It was a bountiful Red-tailed Hawk day today. I visited three sites: Plaza Male’s, Pale Male and Octavia’s, and Bobby and Rosie’s territories. I only got to see two of Pale Male’s and Octavia’s babes and one of Bobby and Rosie’s offspring today.
I spotted a Red-tailed Hawk on the side of The Plaza. I hadn’t visited Grand Army Plaza for two weeks, not since April 30th.
The first thoughts I had when seeing this Hawk were, ‘Who’s that? That is not Plaza Male. Who could it be? Does he have a new female mate? Where is he then?’
A Finch flew to and landed near the Hawk:
The Finch’s mate came along as well:
I’ve seen more Finches by Red-tails this Spring than ever.
The Hawk flew off The Plaza and headed west on 59th Street then flew over the park (same route I’ve seen Plaza Male fly):
The Plaza is undergoing some restoration:
The Hawk returned to The Plaza:
It was only then that I saw that the bird was a juvenile Red-tail:
Off again:
He is the small dot in the distance heading toward the right-hand Time Warner Center tower:
I then saw another Hawk flying near it:
I was relieved to see that it was Plaza Male. I saw his markings at one point but unfortunately that photo was not ‘blog-worthy’ as it were.
The juvenile chased Plaza Male to a building west of The Plaza:
The juvenile landed near him. They soon moved out of view. They weren’t returning to my area after several minutes so I headed north to visit Pale Male and Octavia’s brood.
Pale Male was flying to land on a building south of his nest (and along Fifth Avenue) when I arrived:
He was being chased by a Falcon that dive-bombed him:
It finally left him alone.
Pale Male flew over the park trees.
Octavia then appeared and flew in his direction.
She was directly over my head at one point:
They both disappeared when soaring high in the sky and over the trees further south.
View of the nest from where I happened to be standing:
Pale Male reappeared, perched on a building north of his nest:
Flying by his nest:
He soared over the model boat pond across from his nest:
He then flew far north:
Octavia back in the nest:
I left the nest to walk south to the closest subway.
I saw Pale Male flying over the block south of his nest, heading back toward it:
I hopped on the train and went to Washington Square Park to visit Bobby and Rosie’s nest.
One of the kids looking over the park, the apricot coloring coming in more and more on the chest:
Rosie flew overhead with part of a pigeon:
She took it to a level lower than the tops of the trees. I lost sight of her.
Bobby appeared at the same time:
Flying past One Fifth Avenue (just north of the park):
He landed atop One University Place, the building above the northeast corner of the park:
It is a great vantage point from which to watch the nest and area around the park.
Rosie back in the nest:
Babe watching her leave:
I thought Rosie may have watched the pigeons hanging out below her but she ignored them.
She left the cross when I happened to take my eyes off her.
Bobby was then sitting on a different corner of One University Place as I left the park:
