It was a great visit with the whole Washington Square Park Red-tailed Hawk family today. Both parents and fledglings were very active.
My commute to the park from work was nightmare fodder for most New York City subway riders. I was on the train when all of a sudden it stopped between two underground stations. The conductor got on the public announcement system and told us there were signaling problems so trains would be slow and delayed. My fellow riders and I quietly endured the dead stop in the tunnel for close to ten minutes. Because I didn’t want to risk getting stuck on the train again I got off the train at the next stop and walked then took a cab the rest of the way to the park. The delay set me back half an hour which was stressful because I had darling little hawks to see!
Rosie was hunting in the trees near the fledglings’ building perches when I arrived:
Photo included just to show how low to the park path Rosie flew:
Judson Memorial Church in the background:
The hawks, when noticed by others, always draw big crowds:
She flew off her perch, flew a good distance, dropped into brush, then popped out with a rodent; all without missing a beat.
I lost sight of where she brought the creature. A fledgling soon showed itself atop NYU’s Pless building (at the eastern side of the park):
Bobby circling above the fledglings and park then southwest:
No hawk in this picture but I wanted to show what building he swooped down below:
Both hawks perched on the Judson Memorial Church cross:
Rosie flew toward the fledglings and circled above them several times:
Bobby observing:
She perched on a high flag pole so she could look over them:
Baby:
Rosie. She’s easy to differentiate from Bobby right now because of the current feather gaps in her wings:
Baby making its way down its path:
Rosie taking a break to preen:
Still getting the hang of this flying business:
It landed on the black cornice:
Rosie gazed at the fledgling:
And the fledgling gazed right back:
Bobby came over and watched over his family. He was on the highest perch of all the hawks:
You can see the fledgling at the bottom of the photo. Bobby on the flag pole:
The second fledgling appeared and flew by and to NYU’s Shimkin Hall (one of the fledglings’ favorite building tops):
Mama Rosie not far behind:
Fledgling on Shimkin:
Other fledgling stayed put:
Rosie landed on a flag pole again:
Shimkin fledgling:
Playing:
The other fledgling walked along the cornice:
A fascinating thing then happened. Bobby was seated on his flag pole. Then Rosie swooped over to and behind him and hovered for a few seconds near him. It wasn’t clear what she was doing; whether she wanted to hop on top of him, nudge him off, or just greet him. In either case, it was pretty neat to see her just hover near him like that before she continued on.
Bobby dropped down and started to eat at table (the hawks have eaten on this building’s corner tops many times before):
The fledgling saw he was eating and walked along the cornice toward him:
Rosie joined the fledgling atop Shimkin. It looked like she had potential nest material in her beak.
She watched Bobby for several seconds before joining him:
Rosie on the left, Bobby on the right:
She flew away. Fledgling below Bobby:
The fledgling made its way through the building top’s railing:
Rosie was soaring above:
The fledgling went to the dinner table Bobby and Rosie were just at:
It flew to a lower level and away from my vantage point.The other fledgling got hoppy:
I saw it was almost 8:00PM so I left to go home, have dinner, and work on this post.