At long last, I and a few other hawk-watchers saw Bobby tonight! Pipsters had reported seeing a hawk or two over the last several days but they weren’t able to photograph them in time and the sightings were quite brief, unfortunately. But tonight was fantastic since we got to see Bobby flying, perching, and hunting for about an hour and a half.I first spotted Bobby as he flew from building to building at the Northeastern side of Washington Square Park. I lost sight of him for a minute until I saw him fly from the park to a flagpole atop an NYU building at the Southeastern corner of the park. He sat perched on that flagpole for about half an hour then on the next building’s flagpole.After sitting on this new flagpole for only half a minute, he dove into the park for some fine hunting for about forty minutes. He caught a small mouse and ate it whole in one swallow. He continued to fly from tree to tree then from building to building again until he disappeared out of sight while turning right onto Broadway. By then it was too dark to photograph anyway so I went home.
This vantage point made for some good contrasts between Bobby and the planes flying overhead:
Sunset illuminates the stone:
Bobby flew from one flagpole to the next:
He soon flew to the park to hunt:
Hello, handsome:
A squirrel seen on the left came closer to have a look. Bobby was only mildly interested. He had mice on the mind, not squirrels:
Bobby spied a mouse and pursued:
Only to come up empty:
No time to burn. Bobby kept searching for prey:
Note the outstretched leg and balled foot. 🙂
Success! A dive in a different bush brought a tasty reward:
A small mouse which he ate in one swallow:
Off again:
And again…
The darkness was making it more and more difficult to spot Bobby as he made his way from perch to perch.. especially when trees were in the way much of the time and I’d lose sight of him for a few seconds while he was in flight.
Trusting my gut was the only way to go.. glad to see the distant, dark figure was indeed Bobby:
Good night, Bobby:
