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Shot this picture about 15 minutes from my house. We saw several old nest in the area before we spotted this North American Goshawk sitting on the nest. The nest is in the shade, so, the picture is not very good. We think she has been sitting on the eggs for about a week. Did not see the male while we were there.

 

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Southwestern New Mexico

Great find, raptrlvr!! And not a bad photo at all!

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We did not inherit Mother Earth from our ancestors...... we have borrowed Her from our descendants.
Chief Seattle (paraphrased)

Nice. Hopefully it's in a quiet area where she won't be bothered much.

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Last two photo-lifers: Tundra Swan and Varied Thrush.

This nest is about 40 yards off a remote dirt road in an area that is pretty busy on the weekends. This time of the year is turkey season, and there are lots of wild turkeys here. We were looking for Goshawk nest, so, it wasn't by chance that we spotted it. I was selected by lottery to take a goshawk eyas {baby} this next falconry season. New Mexico Game & Fish allows 3 to be taken out of the wild. By law, I must take an eyas out of the nest. I am not allowed to take it when its old enough to fly. Some may think its unethical to take one from the nest, but, if there are more than 2 babies in the nest, 75% odds are they will not survive because of food competition among the young. When I take one from the nest, it will give that one a better chance of survival as well as the ones that are left in the nest. If there is only one baby in the nest, then by law I am not allowed to take it.

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Southwestern New Mexico

Went back to the nest today. The female is still sitting on the eggs, so we only stayed for about 7 or 8 minutes. As we were leaving we could hear the male calling from a distance and he came flying in just as we left the area. We are monitoring this nest and will make another trip back in about a week and a half. All the info is then given to New Mexico Game and Fish for their survey. All we do is check to see if the female is on the eggs and then we try to document when the chicks are hatched and how many.

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Southwestern New Mexico

How high off the ground is the nest?  Will you be taking pictures of the eggs and chicks?

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Latest Birds: Sage Thrasher, Ferruginous Hawk, Common Goldeneye

The nest is about 50 or 60 feet off the ground. There is a hill right next to the tree which allows me to get eye level with the female. Probably won't be able to get a picture of the eggs, but, once the chicks are hatched, we will be able to see them easily and I'll get some pictures. The nest is really shaded and not much light, but, I'll do the best I can.

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Southwestern New Mexico

Maybe improvise and get a hand held spotlight? IDK, but sounds like something I'd try. ha

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"He who makes a beast of himself gets rid of the pain of being a man." ~ Samuel Johnson

I read in the newspaper today that there was a fire in the area of the goshawk nest that burned for 5 hours before getting it under control. I went back to the area today to check out the nest. Everything is OK and the fire was not even close to the nest. Here is a picture taken today with the sun going down giving the nest a little better lighting. I was about 40 yards away from the nest shooting with the Nikon 70-300mm VR lens and then heavy cropping on the computer.

 

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Southwestern New Mexico

Good photo, raptrlvr. Thanks for the update.

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We did not inherit Mother Earth from our ancestors...... we have borrowed Her from our descendants.
Chief Seattle (paraphrased)

I am monitoring the nest about every other day now because the hatch should happen within the next week. The female repositioned herself a couple of times today and then got up and stretched her legs before laying back on the eggs. She used her beak to turn the eggs a couple of times. I haven't seen the male  except one time. Today, I set up the blind in the forrest and I will get there tomorrow morning before the sun comes up to see if I can spot the male bringing food into the female. A couple more shots from today.

 

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Southwestern New Mexico

 

Well, you said "heavy crop", but still marvelous photos.

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Last two photo-lifers: Tundra Swan and Varied Thrush.

Those really are incredible shots!

 Just curious, what is your camera-lens combo?

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Lifers: 135

Recent additions: Hermit Thrush, Field Sparrow, Purple Finch, Black-throated Green Warbler
Favorites: Osprey, American Kestrel, Reddish Egret

Thanks for the compliments. The camera/lens combo is a Nikon D200 with a Nikon 300mm 2.8 AF-S 11 lens with a Kenko 1.4 teleconverter. These shots were taken from a photo blind I set up about 40 yards away from the goshawk with a setting sun behind me. The way the nest is situated you can't take morning shots at all because you are shooting into the sun. You can't get any closer either because of all the tree branches.

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Southwestern New Mexico

Update on the goshawk nest. I was there yesterday and finally saw the chicks. I could see 2 clearly, but, I think there are at least 3 in the nest. The first picture shows the 2 that I could see with the hen laying beside them. The 2nd picture shows the hen after she saw me. She came off the nest and buzzed me a couple of times. I think I mentioned that I have a permit to take one of the chicks from this nest to use for falconry purposes. The climber {young guy, I'm too old } will be at my house tomorrow {Thursday} and we will take one of the chicks from this nest. I will then raise it and train it to hunt with. The pictures are not very good because I was about 40 yards away and it was very rainy and cloudy while I was taking the pictures.

 

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Southwestern New Mexico