We finally got a couple of inches of snow:
I first saw Bobby arrive at Washington Square Park just after 2:30 today. He had flown in from the north along Fifth Avenue (perhaps he was in Union Square Park just beforehand). He perched on a terrace overlooking the northern boundary of Washington Square Park:
After ten minutes, Rosie arrived from further north as well and landed beside him:
She appeared to look upon him with affection (my own imagination I’m sure):
She had a full crop, indicating she had recently eaten a large meal:
Bobby flew across the park and to a perch between buildings at the south end:
He popped up and flew to a couple of trees at the east side of the park before heading west where he remained for a large part of the day.
Heading east:
He landed in a tree in front of Bobst Library (he’s in the top of the darker tree left of center):
After a few minutes he flew to a tree closer to where I happened to be standing on the north side of the park:
Heading west:
Rosie still on the terrace:
Bobby on the hunt in the park below:
But first a preen:
He spotted his prey across the trees:
He snatched a pigeon perched atop a building along the north side of the park:
It was flapping and struggling like mad to break free.
Because Bobby didn’t have a firm grasp on the pigeon, it escaped certain death and flew safely away:
The pigeon is seen flying away on the left. Bobby is on the right, a mass of feathers still in his talons. A trail of pigeon feathers in the sky:
The hawks rarely eat pigeons. There is a bounty of rats and mice in the park. The rats and mice were burrowed under the snow and I did not see any come out to forage for food. It’s safe to assume Bobby hunted pigeon as a last resort since his favored prey was out of sight and unavailable.
Rosie still on her terrace perch:
A group of pigeons gathered again at the spot Bobby had snatched one only a couple of minutes earlier:
He flew out of the park and rounded the building on the southwest corner of the park. He landed on the West 4th Street side of the building.
Rosie immediately jumped off her terrace perch and followed him.She first landed on an air conditioner on the park-facing side of the building before swooping around to join Bobby on his side of the building.
Rosie:
Bobby is on a cornice at the corner (on the left in the photo below) and Rosie is on top of one of the upper floor’s air conditioners (extreme right):
Bobby:
Rosie:
Rosie flew below him before circling round back again:
Bobby:
Rosie flew around the front of the building and at a perch overlooking the park:
Bobby soon joined her:
Rosie:
Bobby on the left, Rosie on the right:
Rosie flew off her perch and entered the nest for a minute (light snow was falling at the time):
Bobby left his building perch and perched on a building closer to her:
She soon left the nest then headed east and out of the park and out of sight.
Life went on as usual on Fifth Avenue as seen through the arch:
Bobby eventually followed Rosie by flying in her direction east out of the park:
I spotted him on the corner of a building a block away (at Waverly Place and Greene Street):
Bobby then flew even further east, crossing Broadway and landing on the back of a building between Broadway and Lafayette:
He then flew north above Lafayette Street. All of a sudden Rosie appeared from our side of Broadway and flew in his general direction. We lost sight of both hawks but ventured north on Broadway until Astor Place then turned east on Astor toward Lafayette. While on Lafayette I saw one of the hawks fly to and seem to land on one of the buildings along the street.
Search as we might, we could not find either of the hawks again. Since the last one we saw was flying in the direction of Washington Square Park, we headed back to the park. When One Fifth Avenue came into view, I saw who turned out to be Bobby sitting on the eastern corner of One Fifth Avenue:
View of Bobby on the apartment building at One Fifth Avenue from my vantage point back in the park:
Rosie flew from the trees of the park to a low perch on One Fifth Avenue:
It was pretty funny that we were walking and searching in vain for the hawks for several minutes away from the park when it obviously took them mere seconds to return to the park.
Rosie circled around to the east side of the building then further north and out of sight for the rest of the day.
Bobby left his perch atop One Fifth Avenue and landed on an old familiar perch, an NYU flagpole overlooking the eastern side of the park:
He then flew into the trees to hunt for a few minutes:
A squirrel in a nearby squirrel box not taking any chances of getting caught:
It had a friend with him (one of the resident black squirrels) who took a peek at the hawk a couple of times as well:
It was getting late and dark. Bobby stopped hunting and flew to his roost for the evening:
