One of the fledglings was eating a squirrel in “Quantico” or The Hunting Grounds when I arrived at Washington Square Park. There was no way to know who killed the squirrel (whether one of the parents Bobby or Rosie had) or one of the two fledglings.
The fledgling kicked and pounced on the meal during and after eating; probably to further practice the fine art of hunting and killing.
She hopped away to another area of the ground:
I was photographing through the spaces of a chain link fence so there’s a bit of ‘whiteout’.
She flew out of the fenced-in area and to a tree deeper into the park:
She flew southeast out of the park. I like the photo below because it shows three building perches mentioned a lot in this blog: Bobst Library is on the left, Kimmel Center in the middle, and the Catholic Center is on the right:
She landed on the roof of Judson Memorial Church:
I had set my camera on a different setting than usual and unfortunately, the color saturation was just too rich, especially when it came to rendering the sky. Apologies for that! I will make sure to revert the settings to a more natural and less garish look.
Rosie was on a structure atop the west side of the church:
Fledgling:
I was astonished to see the fledgling soaring and circling above the park. It was a first for me. Before then, I had only seen the fledglings fly from point to point in a direct route.
The fledgling was vocal during its soaring. It was using what sounded like its begging call but because I don’t speak Hawk, I don’t know what it was really emoting.
All of a sudden the fledgling tucked in and began to descend to the top of the church’s cross (another first!):
The landing was pretty comical because the Hawk looked unsteady and was crying as it touched down but it stuck the landing so I was happy for it.
Rosie preening:
The fledgling was still crying, especially when it looked down on Rosie:
But it did also spend time looking around at all the new views from this perch:
She cried some more and then hopped off her perch and in Rosie’s direction:
Crying all the way:
Floating past Rosie:
She landed on the building south of the church (The Hagop Kevorkian Center for Near Eastern Studies):
Butterfly:
I moved toward the back of the building to get a different angle:
It was a good thing I did too because from there I could also see Rosie still on her perch (on the right):
The other fledgling’s head popped up. It was eating at table. That section of the building top is a major meal table for the Hawks:
Both fledglings then ate together.
Bobby soon swooped in to eat as well (he is on the left):
Bobby ate for several minutes then went on his way:
Three Hawks:
Stretch:
I heard an adult Hawk call out loudly in a sustained cry. I backed up to where I thought I heard the sound come from and saw Rosie on an apartment building on the block south of me:
I don’t know if she was the Hawk that made the call but it was great to see her. Rosie could see her kids perfectly from where she sat.
Curious:
Yawn:
The other fledgling flew to a perch just east:
She looked directly at Rosie a few times:
Pigeons gathered below the little Hawk, who eyed them curiously:
I think they realized she was there because they then flew away from her:
I had to leave so I took one last photo of each of the three Hawks:
