LONGMONT, Colo. -- It may be easy to question whether the side of a congested road, next to a busy construction zone, was the wisest home choice for a family of Great Horned Owls.

But construction crews in Longmont will have to work around an owl nest this summer.

A family of two adults and two owlets are living in a tree alongside County Line Road north of Colorado Highway 119.

"They're getting bigger by the day," said Rich Kelley, who rides his bike by their tree every morning to watch the mother hover over her two owlets, nestled in the branches below, and the father keeping a watchful eye from nearby trees or buildings. "I'm just worried about them and what's going to happen to them."

Crews there are adding additional left-turn lanes to all four approaches. There is only one at each approach now.

The tree with the owl's nest was on the list for removal, but because the owls are a protected species, businesses and construction companies have to give the birds the space they need, according to Division of Wildlife spokeswoman Jennifer Churchill.

"It is illegal to mess with their nests or the eggs," said Churchill. "They are protected under the Federal Migratory Bird Act ... and we want to make sure that these birds are able to raise their young and get out of there."

That means the tree stays and construction crews will have to work around it through the fall, when the birds will leave the nest.

The owls will have to deal with the noise and the heavy equipment and later in the summer some of the dead branches may have to be trimmed. Engineers said they had to make some minor changes to the project design and that the road will come directly up to the tree.

"We looked at our project and decided how we could actually build it around the tree," said Project Manager Tom Street. "The rest is history. I mean, let's face it, as a civil engineer, we're used to dealing with pencils and calculators. To add this touch of real life, it's good."

So before questioning where the owls made their nest, consider that the construction will continue; the owls will survive; and in finding a delicate balance between man and nature, perhaps we are all a little wiser.

The City of Longmont has hired a raptor specialist to help deal with the delicate balance workers must address more often than one might think. In fact, just down the road from the expansion project, another construction schedule has been changed because of a nest of bald eagles.

The construction project is scheduled to last until October.

After the owls leave the nest, the city's forester will examine the tree to determine if it will remain.

The DOW warns that getting too close to the owls' nest could scare off the parents and force them to leave their young, so they recommend wildlife watchers stay at least 30 feet away and enjoy them through binoculars.