Setting the Table

For several days in early June I witnessed interesting behavior. Alighting near the top of the greening out cottonwood trees, the adults would grab a tender branch in their beak and jump up and down on a branch below it until it broke off. They would then fly it to the nest and place it near the back. Shortly thereafter, one of them would arrive with a freshly killed and skinned offering, typically a bunny, and place it on the fresh greens.