Hawk-watchers in Washington Square Park let me know a juvenile (or two!) were seen in the park so I rushed over a little earlier than I had planned. How could I pass up the chance to see them as soon as I could?
Rosie was flying above the eastern side of the park when I got there. She perched on one of the NYU Silver Center flag poles:
She flew all the way across the eastern side of the park and the square and landed on the Judson Memorial Church tower:
Tricky footing:
She soared above the square, heading north:
She landed on a terrace at Two Fifth Avenue:
Off again after six minutes:
She flew to a favored building at the southwestern corner of the park:
Bobby, who had apparently been sitting on the building for a while before she landed, flew off the building and started soaring above the southwestern area beyond the park:
A juvenile appeared and soared in the sky near Bobby.
It had a nice full crop so had obviously recently eaten:
Rosie watched the juvenile and Bobby:
Rosie left her perch and soared above for a couple of minutes:
She eventually disappeared when flying west.
Bobby and the juvenile soared together but I was unable to capture both of them in the same frame.
Bobby:
He tucked in like a bullet and shot over the square and northeast:
He landed on the antenna on the furthest and tallest eastern building (but which still allowed him to look over the entire park):
He flew back over the square:
He disappeared when flying west (maybe to follow Rosie):
Three Turkey Vultures flew over the park too (just two here):
Since Rosie and Bobby were so far west and didn’t look like they’d return for a while, I decided to head home.
A friend I was walking with happened to notice a Hawky shape sitting on a building at the northeastern corner of the park.
It turned out to be a juvenile Red-tail:
A second juvenile appeared and flew past:
It was the juvenile with the full crop:
It flew across the square and toward the western side of the park.
The perched juvenile followed it.
The formerly perched juvenile was spotted in a tree with a freshly-caught pigeon:
The juvenile was very snowy in appearance and did not look like either of Bobby and Rosie’s kids from this spring. Its apricot-colored chest was very faint and the underside of its wings had few markings in contrast to the WSP offspring. Bobby and Rosie’s offspring still had deep apricot coloring on their chests and heavy wing markings when I last saw them in the summer.
A squirrel ventured close:
The juvenile got distracted from its meal at times by the sounds of arborists cutting down and mulching weakened branches from Hurricane Sandy:
The squirrel that owns the nest the juvenile was eating in is in for a big, messy surprise when it returns.
Someone fed a flock of pigeons nearby and their activity attracted the juvenile’s attention:
Hello:
Since this juvenile’s eye color had the kind of deep brown color of an older juvenile and its apricot chest coloringand its polka dot-patterned leg markingswere a bit faded, my guess is this juvenile may be a year old and not a Hawk born this spring.
It’s definitely a city kid since it flew and perched so close to humans and did not show any fear of them.
Rosie and Bobby were still away from the park during its activity and didn’t seem to know the juvenile was hunting and eating in their territory so if the juvenile tries to stick around, it would be interesting to see how and how soon R & B would drive it away.
The Hawk took an hour and a half to eat the pigeon while at this last perch and was still picking at its prey when I and my companions had to leave the park thanks to being chilled to the bone and worn out.
Because of Daylight Savings time, I won’t get many opportunities to see much Hawk activity before it gets dark during the week but I’ll stop by as often as I can to see if I get lucky sightings.