What Does it Take?

This isn't much of a photo, but it is the backstory that demonstrates something amazing.  I've only seen this twice.  The osprey depicted here was perched in the top of one of the background trees.  When it dropped out of the tree and dove toward the water (just out of view at the bottom of the picture), I thought it was going to catch a fish.  Instead, it swooped through the deadfall, extended it's talons and snapped off a dead branch to take to it's nest.

Consider that for a moment.  Think about the innate knowledge it needed to be able to successfully perform this task.  The conceptualization that it didn't have to wait for a branch to break off, but that it could meet it's need by causing it to break.  And then the knowledge that it could hit the branch with enough force to cause it to break.  Any miscalculation and it could break a leg.  This act, to me, speaks volumes about how much more intelligent and resourceful animals are than humans give them credit for being.