Today was a vacation day for me so in the late morning, while the rain was abating, I went to Washington Square Park with a friend to look for hawks. We sat on a bench for about half an hour with no sighting until a hawk (most likely Bobby) flew from the Southeast corner of the park toward Union Square Park in a straight, determined line. We immediately jumped from our seats and headed to Union Square Park.
Wanting to test how quickly we could get from park to park, we put some hustle in our bustles and timed our walk at six minutes. When we arrived at Union Square Park, I saw a hawk seated atop the ConEd building, a now common perch for them. My friend noticed that there were actually two hawks seated on the top of the building. Zooming in with my camera, I could tell that the hawks were Violet and Bobby.
Bobby is seated on the right, Violet on the left.
I don’t know what they were noticing but they were doing so at the same time:
Bobby walked to and then behind Violet, switches places with her.
In this photo below, it looks like they’re communicating, doesn’t it?
Bobby walked further along to the left-hand side of the building top:
After several minutes, Bobby flew back toward the direction of Washington Square Park. I like how the building’s sculptured exterior looks like an ancient mountainside; one that a red-tailed hawk would find itself at home next to:
Violet, alone, was soon harassed by a mockingbird:
A construction worker approached me and my friend and asked if we were bird-watching. I said yes and when he asked, I told him we were looking at a red-tailed hawk. He replied, “Ah, I heard there was a falcon seen in Maspeth (Queens) recently”. I said it very well could have been when all of a sudden Violet flew off the ConEd building with the mockingbird giving chase. I was a little disappointed to not get that flight on video but since I was having a kindly conversation at the moment, I couldn’t be too upset. Violet disappeared from view but it looked as though she too were headed in the direction of Washington Square Park. My friend and I walked back to Washington Square Park to see if we could find Bobby or Violet again back ‘home’. That was the last we saw of Violet today however.
Not long after returning to our original bench, Bobby reappeared on one of his favorite perches on One Fifth Avenue:
He sat on this perch for about half an hour, enjoying a preen during part of his visit:
He then flew across the park…
… and touched down for an elegant landing on yet another favorite perch, atop an American flag on an NYU building at the East end of the park:
After at least an hour and a half of watching him relax on this perch, I had to end my visit and make my way home. I stopped and turned to take more photos of him from time to time while I walked away. It’s tough to say goodbye to a hawk in plain sight!
See you around, Bobby.
