I first saw Bobby atop One Fifth Avenue, one of his favorite apartment building perches:
He disappeared while flying north toward Union Square Park.
Bits of the Washington Square Park arch, Empire State Building, and One Fifth Avenue:
Bobby reappeared after several minutes:
Bobby flying above Two Fifth Avenue:
Bobby disappeared out of view yet again. A seemingly-homeless man sitting on a bench nearby waved me over to him and suggested I take a photo of the sun between the branches since it was such a beautiful sight. How could I not oblige?
After a few minutes I saw Bobby again but only for a minute:
A good half hour to forty minutes passed before I saw another hawk in the sky. I thought at first it must be Bobby but no, it was a stranger hawk passing through:
There are several ways to tell this hawk apart from Bobby. This hawk has a white chin whereas Bobby’s is dark brown (with white streaks running down either side of his chin). This hawk’s belly band coloring is much thicker and darker than Bobby’s and you can see that the stranger hawk’s tail feathers are not yet fully reddish-brown but still heavily barred, indicating it is probably still a juvenile.
To save you the trouble of asking, I have no idea if this is Pip.
It flew up Fifth Avenue and out of sight:
Bobby during sunset:
The stranger hawk returned, almost looking escorted by smaller birds:
When I first saw the hawk tonight I thought it may be Violet but after looking closer at the day’s photos when I was home, I realized it must be the bird from earlier in the day since its markings matched so well.
Bobby watched it continue flying east. It was not seen again during my visit to the park. Perhaps Bobby did not see it as a threat since he didn’t bother to chase it away. He sure did keep his eye on it though:
Bobby flew from the Judson Memorial Church cross to a building along the western side of the park:
I saw him land on a building’s air conditioner. I literally ran closer in order to take some snaps in case he flew away. Luckily, he stayed on the perch for several long minutes:
A doorman from the building walked across the street to where I was standing and asked me if I was looking at a hawk. I said yes and pointed out where Bobby was. He mentioned there were two hawks (who lived nearby) and I said yes and that this was the father hawk. He watched Bobby for a few seconds before wishing me a good evening and going back to his post. Everyone loves the hawks!
Bobby took off and flew in the direction of the evening roost. I gasped when his wings opened wide above the street in front of me.. the wingspan is just so huge!:
Obligatory shot of the Empire State Building I just had to take before running to the roost:
Bobby was not at the roost at first. I didn’t see him on neighboring buildings either when I went to the corner to have a look around for him. I backed up to the roost (in sight the entire time) and there was Bobby! He must have flown onto his roost perch from the opposite side. It makes sense that he did not fly directly to the roost but obviously to a nearby perch first to perhaps have a look at it from a safe distance to determine if it was safe to enter.
