Month: September 2011

The mystery hawk was back at Washington Square Park this morning. It made itself known when it flew directly, and I mean directly, over my head and flew into a nearby tree. After failing to catch either a pigeon or squirrel, it returned to the previous day’s window ledge to pick on the pigeon scraps it had left behind:

Continue to the full post… “Mystery hawk, Bobby, & Mighty Violet – September 11, 2011”

I had just reached Washington Square Park this afternoon to look for Bobby with a fellow hawk-watcher when out of the blue I came across this scene; a few men standing on a temporary outside boiler/generator taking photos of a huge and magnificent stranger: a juvenile red-tailed hawk.My heart stopped and my hands shook as I reached into my bag and started taking the first photos.

It had just finished dining on a pigeon which I later learned it had taken from the “hunting ground” of the park (across the street) and brought to the ledge. This was definitely the same hawk faithful Pip-watcher JumpFlapper reported seeing perched atop Two Fifth Avenue earlier in the day.

After a few minutes on the ledge, the hawk flew into the trees of the park and preened and otherwise took in its surroundings. It is not clear, of course, where it came from, if it will try to stay or is simply passing through, and if Bobby or Violet have seen this new visitor. It is Fall Migration time for red-tailed hawks so it may simply be passing through the area. If it tries to stick around, it will be exciting to see how the Washington Square Park hawks react to it!

This hawk is not part of the NYU trio and it does not appear to be one of Pale Male’s offspring either.

Continue to the full post… “A new hawk in Washington Square Park! September 10, 2011”

Below are four videos taken of Bobby flying, hunting, and eating on September 8th, 2011.

Video one: Bobby flying off the flag pole atop an NYU building:

Continue to the full post… “Bobby video footage from September 8, 2011”