Cooper’s Hawk building a nest at Yamato Scrub
This Cooper’s Hawk was busily building a nest up in a pine at Yamato Scrub Natural Area. 
There was another hawk calling from somewhere nearby when I took these photos, likely the adult female. At first I thought the hawk was a Merlin, but Merlin do not breed as far south as Florida. After looking at the photos, it seemed most likely that this guy is a Cooper’s (Although he may also be a sharp-shinned hawk). I’ve read that it can be difficult to distinguish between the two, but either way, it was cool to watch this swift hawk soaring back and forth with twigs to build a nest. In the photo above he was picking up a twig that he flew over to the nest, and in the last photo below he was heading out for more building supplies.
Cool! I can only recognize red shouldered hawks. That guy sure is handsome with those long tail feathers. I wonder how long it will take him to build a nest.
He was definitely working diligently, Jan! I left after a minute or so because I didn’t want to disturb him…and in just the short time I was there watching, he made several trips–one twig at a time.