Photos: Gary Vlahakis, March 4, 2012, 9:15AM. The Red Tailed Hawks have been regularly fine tuning the nest at the corner of Allesandro & Rosebud, less than 100' from the controversial 16-lot subdivision. (Click on photos to enlarge.)
Sunday morning, I awoke to the sound of chainsaws coming from the other side of the 2 Freeway. Since almost all the trees were already gone from the 16-lot subdivision, I checked to see if someone was trying to cut down the tree with the hawk nest in it. A check through the binoculars revealed CalTrans working on the northbound parkways of the 2 Freeway - at 7:30 AM - on a SUNDAY!
I grabbed my cell phone and ran down the Corralitas Public Staircase to ensure CalTrans was not cutting down the tree with the nest. From under the freeway I shouted up to the crew using a chainsaw on some dead dense brush. The supervisor, Mike, was unaware of the nest and thanked me for pointing it out. He said they were not cutting down trees, just doing brush clearance. (At 7:30 AM on a Sunday?)
Later Sunday morning, I called my neighbor when I saw the hawk working on the nest. He captured a few frames, seen here.
Around 6 PM Sunday, I watched one of the Red Tails fly into the nest from the trees off the Corralitas log cabins. It was the same behavior it was engaing in when these photos were shot. The hawk proceeded to walk slowly and deliberately around the edge of the nest, seemingly fussing with the nest material for about 10 minutes, before flying toward one of the big Eucalyptus on the Corralitas Drive side of the 2 Freeway.
