I saw Rosie make her first appearance at Washington Square Park around 1:45PM. She was flying toward the west side of the park along Washington Place from 6th Avenue.
She perched at a building overlooking the park:
After a few minutes she flew to a perch north of the park, swooped around, then landed on one of the terraces at 2 Fifth Avenue:
She flew from the terrace to behind the arch to a nearby light pole:
She attempted to catch prey below her:
She didn’t catch anything.
She pounced on a mouse in the brush and took her time tussling with it. It didn’t have a chance:
She is already memorizing her hunting spots. I believe this was the third time I’d seen her hunt in this one particular patch of brush.
A clump of leaves were caught in her talons along with the mouse:
She returned to the same spot for some more hunting but didn’t catch anything:
She flew to the opposite side of the park. She definitely gives us a workout. She is fast and likes to traverse the whole park.
She seems to have a lot of fun dashing into the same flock of pigeons getting fed on the western side of the park every day. She did so a couple of times today:
Pigeon panic:
Looking up curiously at a few pigeons on the branch above her:
Landing on another perch:
It was getting dark so she began to settle down.
Bobby appeared! He was relaxing high up on one of the park’s most massive trees:
Rosie flying toward what we call the Hunting Grounds or Quantico for a little late-day hunting:
Bobby goes to bed:
A peregrine saw his flight and where he perched so rushed over to him and swooped by a couple of times to harass him. Thanks to the large pipe, he was shielded.
Rosie perched in a tree at the Hunting Grounds for several minutes before finally leaving the park via flying down Washington Square West/MacDougal Street.
Four of us searched for her down MacDougal Street and by scanning the encircling area but we didn’t see her shape against the night sky or in a hideaway perch anywhere. We returned to the park and scanned there as well (checking the nest too) but couldn’t find her. She was obviously roosting in some mysterious place for the night.
As I walked home I thought of how wonderful it was that at that moment, there were a few hawks dappled around the city all tucked in for the night (unseen and unknown by the humans around them).
Empire State Building still in its holiday colors:
