JAN 2: Early morning nest building

[NewMexiKen]

Both eagles got an early start on adding branches to the new nest. When I arrived at about 9:00 AM, the male (Pride) was on the nest. Several watchers had been observing for over an hour. The sky was overcast and visibility was limited, poor for photography.

The structure has grown and now almost fills the gap between the two main support branches. The nest platform is slanted at an odd angle. Normally it would be horizontal, so it will be interesting to see how they accomplish this:





Both members of the pair had been actively gathering nest materials since sunrise. The female (Jewel) had just flown out searching for sticks. She flew up into the tallest Australian Pine along the road to the east:









Jewel disappeared into the foliage of the tree and flapped wildly as she tried to break off a large living branch.  She was really struggling with the branch. She tried to break it off by using her weight, actually trying to fly upside down, but the limber branch would not separate from the tree:





She finally gave up the struggle and returned to the nest with a smaller prize:







Pride also made several forays, here returning with a small twig:





The pair worked to position the sticks. Pride is in the foreground. Jewel's larger size is evident in these photos:

[Rockitglider]

Hi Ken,

That is really impressive how hard they work to get a branch off of a tree. I am amazed at the size of some of the branches in the new nest in deerfield, makes you wonder how they got it up there.

Kit