DEC 5 Male roosting near nest 8:45 - 9:45 AM

[NewMexiKen]

Phil gave me permission to share his note from this morning:

Good morning Ken,

I rode over and arrived at 8:45. Pride was perched in the melaleuca trees. It was raining pretty good. We stayed till 9:45 when he departed to the east. He didn't go to the nest.

Phil

Sent from my iPhone

[LindaD]

Has anyone seen both together recently? I haven't an I'm worried.  Homestead has a pair of eggs, so should Pines.

[NewMexiKen]

No, Linda, as far as I know the last time the pair was seen (and photographed) at the same time was at the nest on October 30th. We need to keep eyes on the nest. December 18 is the latest egg date for this pair, and even if they had not yet laid eggs they normally would have been spending much time at the nest over the past few weeks.  

[Kathy]

I saw both birds on Nov 7th, one flew off before I could take pics, I wish I had had my dslr with me that day.  I am wondering if we do not see anything by the end of december if it might be a good idea to get wildlife management to go and take a very close look of the area.  I still have a feeling that one of them is already on the nest.  

The bird I photographed that day did have the drooping foot on the tree for a while but I have to say I was a bit worried about the bird hanging its foot like that at times it was just hanging free.

I have been quite busy lately and just forgot to mention it in this forum, wish that I had now.  Some how I just thought that this must be the bird that "likes
" to hang its foot but I have to wonder now?

The bird is heavy and I would think that it would not stand on one leg for long unless something was wrong.  I wonder if a dog or other creature or fishing line etc could have damaged the foot?

I am going tonite around 4:30 to 5 pm with my good camera to check things out.  I will stay till it starts to get dark if I can.