I spent two and a half hours Saturday afternoon with the Plaza Male and Octavia at Central Park’s Grand Army Plaza before I ended the day with my visit to Washington Square Park to see Rosie and Bobby.
The Plaza Male was easy to spot at first. He was sitting on the Sherry-Netherland Hotel:
A juvenile Red-tail flew around a building just north of the Sherry-Netherland:
It headed east.
I was standing near one of the Grand Army Plaza benches by the William Tecumseh Sherman monument at this point. A lone twig was on the bench. I couldn’t help but wonder if the Plaza Male had been flying overhead with it recently and dropped it. Who or what else would place such a twig there?
Octavia showed up about fifteen minutes after my arrival.
Flying past The Solow Building on her way to The Plaza:
Coming in to land on The Plaza:
Within seconds the Plaza Male flew past her then turned around and joined her:
He then perched higher up and west of her:
Plaza Male flew west:
He disappeared while tucking into a perch at the Ritz-Carlton.
Octavia:
She flew a bit northward before circling back and landing on The Plaza again.
Approaching the Pierre Hotel:
Back to The Plaza:
Plaza Male reappeared with a twig:
I did not see where he might have brought it.
He joined Octavia a couple of minutes later:
He flew above Grand Army Plaza then circled back to The Plaza Hotel, to a higher perch than she again:
Octavia flew off The Plaza, circled above Grand Army Plaza for a few seconds, then headed north, dropping down nearabouts her and Pale Male’s nest.
Octavia during that circling:
The Plaza Male flew near her new location:
I walked/ran/walked up Fifth Avenue to see if I could catch Octavia flying into her nest but it took me so long to get there (fourteen short blocks between locations), that even if she did go into the nest I would have easily missed seeing her do so.
The side of the nest as seen from a few buildings south of it:
I started to make my way back to Grand Army Plaza after waiting around Pale Male’s nest for nearly half an hour. I was a block and a half south of the nest when I spotted Octavia flying southward with part of a little bird in her talons:
She was heading toward Grand Army Plaza. She circled in the air near the square with the prey still in her clutches.
View of the Solow Building (a block south of Grand Army Plaza and Plaza Hotel) from where I was standing:
I walked in her direction.
Two Hawks were soaring together above Grand Army Plaza (between the Sherry-Netherland tower on the left and Solow Building on the right):
One of the Hawks looking so tiny against the Solow Building:
Two Hawks:
I spotted the Plaza Male landing on one of the Plaza Hotel’s flag poles once I was back on the outskirts of Grand Army Plaza:
He then flew in front of the Solow Building again.
I caught sight of Octavia heading north and dropping below the tree line by her and Pale Male’s territory.
I lost sight of her when she was around 67th or 68th Street:
I then tracked her as she rose up and headed back toward Grand Army Plaza a few minutes later:
She landed on The Plaza again:
Facing northeast:
She then rose up, soared in front of the building, then landed on the eastern side of The Plaza:
She saw as the Plaza Male appeared toting another twig:
He brought it to theCrown Building nest site:
He then brought another twig five minutes later:
Octavia flew about three blocks north.
Another Hawk in the frame (who I assume was the Plaza Male):
Octavia then returned southward, flew past the Pierre Hotel, and joined the Plaza Male who was at his Sherry-Netherland perch:
She is seated on the left:
The two looked relaxed enough and I was ready to see Rosie and Bobby so I then hopped on the subway and headed to Washington Square Park.