Tonight I found Bobby sitting atop One Fifth Avenue, the huge apartment building just north of Washington Square Park. He was sitting by himself, facing east.
The view from where I was standing at the Washington Mews:
He flew off his perch twenty three minutes after I had discovered him:
He soared east and out of sight:
I looked all around for him for several minutes but didn’t see him.
I returned to the park in the hopes he’d eventually swoop around and return to the area. I kept an eye open for Rosie too.
Bees enjoying:
While I was searching for Rosie, I came upon some ruffians engaged in a bloody fist fight on the path leading to the square’s fountain. It was quite the spectacle and I watched for a little while (along with everyone else in the area wondering what, if anything, we should do). A few onlookers tried to break up the fight and calm the guys down but they weren’t having much luck. The police showed up and arrested the main players after talking with them for a few minutes.
Neither Bobby nor Rosie showed up again.
I saw a Peregrine Falcon fly in a semi-circle above the southeastern side of the park. It flew south along LaGuardia Place toward the NYU Housing units between 3rd and Bleecker Streets. I figured it must be one of the resident Falcons that are often perched on the roof tops there, as seen in this post from August 18th. It was flying especially low so I thought it might be up to something.
I decided to follow the Falcon to see if it was either about to dive-bomb one of the Hawks that may be around or to see whatever other adventure it might be up to. I got lost in conversation with a friend while standing on 3rd Street and started to put my camera gear away since it was getting dark. While I was talking, I only just happened to notice the NYU housing pigeons scatter about and what looked like a slightly bigger bird flying with them.
Something told me I should pay attention but my thoughts were elsewhere. After my camera was put away, the Falcon flew first in my direction east on 3rd Street before turning south on Mercer Street. It had a freshly-caught pigeon in its talons! The Falcon was flapping hard as it flew on Mercer to a good place at the housing complex to take the pigeon. The pigeon must have been pretty heavy for it.
I ran to the end of the block to watch the flight but I lost sight of the Falcon as it headed into the courtyard of the housing complex. It was an exciting cap to the day!