Red-tailed Hawk landing on nest, Bobst Library, NYU, New York City

Rosie’s pigeon catch and Bobby’s squirrel tussle – May 23rd, 2012

I hadn’t been in the park the last few days because of unavoidable springtime rain showers. I saw a lot of action my first day back!

Rosie:

The babies are really getting some good lift as they jump and flap. At one point one of the little hawks flew in one stretch from one end of the ledge to the other.

The second baby got up and took a turn hopping and flapping:

Forth and back:

Bobby delivering a meal:

The babies rushed to the food and mantled, or protectively covered it. Poor Bobby had to extricate himself from their huddle:

Bobby was off after a few minutes:

He joined Rosie on the cross:

Wiping his beak:

Rosie took off and chose various perches to sit on:

Rosie hopped from perch to perch and dropped down to what might have been pigeon leftovers. It was not possible to tell if she killed the pigeon or ate leftovers because the ‘table’ was out of sight. I gathered she was eating a pigeon because of one lone white feather that was tossed into the air and floated down.

The only indication Rosie was eating a pigeon; a lone white feather tossed up and floating down:

Rosie eventually rose into view. She had part of the pigeon with her:

She brought her catch to the park arch to continue eating:

She took her own morsel away to eat on a building top:

Bobby left the cross, went to a building perch, then shot like a bullet into the trees at the eastern side of the park. His descent was shockingly fast and I had no chance of photographing his full flight.

Rosie finished eating:

Bobby:

At one point while Bobby was on a tree, a nearby squirrel charged him. He hopped up to avoid the attack from the tenacious creature. He fled the squirrel and found another tree to sit on.

Bobby landed on the arch, maybe to seek leftovers from Rosie’s earlier meal.

Rosie:


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