I found one of the Washington Square Park fledgling Red-tailed Hawks today by following its cries as it sat high in a tree. The fledglings’ calls are not that easy to follow because they have a ventriloquist quality to them. Their voices reverberate in such a way that it sounds like they are throwing their voices. That’s how I’ve experienced it to be anyway.
I walked in the general vicinity of the crying Hawk. The first time I saw it was when it flew off its perch and from one group of trees to another:
It sat and relaxed for a while:
A squirrel warily and curiously approached before rushing away:
Fledgling watching another squirrel:
The sight of a man feeding pigeons and squirrels (a park regular) caught the fledgling’s attention. It turned around to get a better view of the group of creatures at his feet:
The fledgling watched the scene but stayed perched.
Empire State Building tower in the distance through the trees:
In the middle of a yawn:
The start of hopscotched perches in and around the park:
The fledgling had sat in the tree for about fifty minutes.
The fledgling had sat in the tree for close to ten minutes.
The fledgling slipped through the trees and out of the park. I lost sight of where she went. One of the guys who hangs out with the chess players at the northwestern side of the park was hanging out with me as I followed the fledgling around.
He pointed out that the bird was on a low building ledge outside of the park:
It was sitting near the Red Roost Inn (the adult Hawks’ night time roost):
Post-happy shake:
At the block north of the park (MacDougal and West 8th Streets):
A couple of frat-type dudes walked by me as I was photographing the Hawk. One of them raised his hand up as a joke to block my shot. I wanted to curse him out but instead said a sarcastic, “Ha ha” as they kept walking. But he had ruined my concentration so I missed seeing the Hawk fly off its perch and I had no idea where it went to.
I walked to 8th Street since it seemed to be the direction where the Hawk was heading. I had no luck finding the Hawk until I saw it fly from a building just north of me, cross 8th Street, then head toward the direction of the park:
I searched for nearly an hour for that or any of the other Hawks in the family but found none. I had to run some weekend errands so had to tear myself away for the day.