JAN 03 2013 Both parents observed tending to young

[NewMexiKen]

Mary Lou and I arrived at the nest at about 11:45 AM. Jill had gotten there a few minutes earlier. One adult that we believe to be the female was sitting high in the nest.

he had a bloody beak so we assume there was prey in the nest and she had been feeding one or more nestlings.



She looked in to the nest and appeared to be attending to the young.



Soon she called and we assumed her mate was in the vicinity, but there was no answer. She called again a bit later, and the male answered and flew to the horizontal perch above the nest.





The pair began calling to each other.



The female became restless, called again and then flew from the nest and disappeared to the south behind the nest.



Soon the male flew down to the nest and immediately appeared to be tearing at prey and feeding one or more nestlings.







We found the female roosting and preening on the Melaleuca snags to the west of the nest.

[Jill W]

I left the PP nest area to go to lunch.  When I returned  (around 2:10 PM) , I observed the same behavior Ken described except after about 20 minutes an adult flew in and sat with the other parent for about 5 minutes.  He (I think) then moved to a vertical branch of the tree quite close to the nest.  He then flew to a power line near the nest.

I have some pictures but have not prepared them for posting.  Maybe later today, I will be able to get them posted.

Jill