The Washington Square Park Red-tailed Hawk family was active and doing well during my visit. Rosie caught dinner for the kids and Bobby mostly stayed close by to watch over his family.
All went well for me in terms of following the hawks around but I had a photography issue that plagued me during my stay. There were what looked like faint water spots on my lens I could not clean off while I was in the park. The spots show up in some of the photos so apologies for that when you see them.
Rosie:
She relaxed and preened atop a flag pole at the eastern side of the park for a few minutes before spotting prey on a park lawn.
She did not fly down from her perch but tucked into a well-timed and perfectly-aligned drop right to her prey:
She caught a sparrow. In the photo below you see part of a man about to walk by and the yellow of a cab between me and the birds.
Sparrow either crying out or already dead:
She brought the meal to the two fledglings. They were both easy to find because they were crying loudly. It helped that they were sitting together as well. The two fledglings:
In a blink of an eye, Rosie replaced the fledgling that had been sitting on the left:
The fledgling that was originally on the left reappeared in an area below them:
Rosie’s job was done (supplying some food) so she left to relax nearby:
On a corner of NYU’s Catholic Center:
The two fledglings just sitting together. I guess they weren’t that hungry after all:
One fledgling flew northward:
The other hopped about and traveled southward:
Bobby on NYU’s Shimkin Hall, a building south of the fledglings’ building. He could watch the kids’ antics from where he sat:
The fledgling that had traveled southward flew to a window perch below Bobby:
It looked like it was playing with material on the ledge or was having a quick snack:
Rosie returned and sat on the edge of the building where the fledglings had been sitting and hopping. She had something in her beak. That section of the roof is a big food drop area.
The window ledge fledgling saw Rosie and went to the food drop area:
Rosie higher up:
She then flew to the other side of the park and circled around until she landed on the Judson Memorial Church cross:
She sat in the same spot for a while and didn’t look like she was going to leave any time soon. I turned around to see if the fledglings were up to anything and saw them flying around where I had left them:
One landed on the easternmost corner of Bobst Library:
It was eating.
Bobby sat atop a nearby water tower:
He then flew to a corner of NYU’s Education building:
He then flew clear across the park and to a building on the opposite side:
Unfortunately he was soon dive-bombed by a bird at his new perch.
Rosie flew off the big Judson Church cross and landed on the smaller green one below it:
She flew to a corner of NYU’s Kimmel Center:
Fledgling atop the Education building (near where Bobby perched earlier):
This bit got confusing. I and a couple of hawk-watchers I was with weren’t sure who the hawk atop the flag pole was. It could have been Bobby but the tail feathers seemed a little short so maybe the hawk was the other fledgling!
Rosie still on Kimmel:
The fledgling flew off the Education building and went to Silver:
There are three hawks in the photo below. The fledgling that had flown off the Education building landed on the roof’s mushroom-looking vent/tower on the right-hand side. Rosie is on a corner of the building below the green cornice (in the middle of the photo). The other fledgling is on a roof railing at the far left of the photo.
Rosie flew a little higher and to the base of one of the flag poles:
The fledgling landed in the middle of the railing. Rosie and the other fledgling are seated together on the far left, watching the other fledgling land:
Rosie then flew to one of the flag poles:
Fledgling flying further south on the railing:
The other fledgling stayed put. It began to rain heavily but the hawks don’t mind the rain. The two fledglings seemed relaxed as they perched in the open, getting wet.
