Chapter 4

A Work in Progress

To my chagrin, laborers arrived on Wednesday to repair the walkway that runs directly under the hawks’ nest tree. Their work continued on Thursday and Friday. We are happy to have the walkway replaced, but fear what this interruption has done to Rufous’ nest-building plans.

On Friday and again today, I see that Rufous is an “early bird,” and gets his nest-building done early in the morning. Today, he was finished with his activities by around 9:00. This is encouraging! Hopefully when the workers return on Monday, their noise won’t bother the hawks at all.

I did notice today that the nest appears thinner than it did a week ago. Some of the sticks must have blown down by the wind. On Friday, I saw the hawks mate briefly, so bonding has begun in earnest. Rufous needs to get busy!

During the past week, the hawks have continued nest-building on every calm, fair day. They do not work in the rain, and they do not work when the wind is blowing, which happens often in Texas. Despite some downtime, they are making progress on the nest. Viewed from below, you can see that daylight still shines through the nest, so more work needs to be done.

Tonight, just at twilight, Jay saw both hawks fly to the cypress tree nearest our house. Shadowy silhouettes close in the gathering dark, they mated, then Rufous side-stepped out and away from Henrietta on the same limb. After a few moments, he flew, but Henrietta remained quiet and still for another fifteen minutes or so before she flew.

Continue to Chapter 5: The Nest is Complete

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