A big shadow moved over the Washington Square Park trees I was standing under. I followed its flight path. It was Bobby.
Freshly-landed on the park-facing side of NYU’s Pless Hall:
He glanced in the window for a second then flew north:
He flew a bit low outside the buildings that line the northern border of the park so I think he might have been hunting the pigeons that hang out there (at the mews).
I couldn’t find him after that.
There were no fledglings in sight so I searched for the two that have been hanging out at the western side of the park lately.
I soon saw one of them chasing the flock of pigeons that inhabits that area of the park!
Freshly-landed in a tree:
The fledgling flew across the park in my direction and tried to land in the small tree to the left of me and other folks standing by the southwest entrance.
The bird couldn’t grip onto the small branches and crashed down, righted itself in mid-air, then turned and flew northward again.
The ladies in front of me oohed and aahed at the sight:
In then out of its new tree:
I searched for the fledgling for close to twenty minutes before I spotted it high in a tree at the western border of the park:
It was being hassled by a squirrel.
The squirrel on the underside of the branch:
The fledgling flew off to another tree after a few seconds.
The pigeons that had scattered earlier had returned to their branches. They were a bit put out by the presence of the Hawk:
A man walking along the path approached the fledgling’s bench but didn’t seem to notice the Hawk. He maintained his stride and never looked down at the bird:
The fledgling turned around:
The man kept going, still oblivious:
The fledgling then hopped up and flew across the lawn and to higher ground.
It was at this point when I think it registered with the man that he had just seen something peculiar because he turned part-way then watched the Hawk fly behind him for a second:
Others saw the Hawk though:
In a new tree, back toward the western border of the park:
The fledgling then flew across the central, western path then eventually landed in a low branch of a tree behind a seated couple. They never noticed the Hawk.
The fledgling flew back across the path a few seconds later:
The fledgling then hopped from one branch to another in a nearby tree. It looked like it was having fun.
At one point it grabbed then took a bite out of a leaf by its feet. It spit the leaf out pretty quickly.
The Hawk flew to a couple of more trees before flying south and out of the park.
On the side of Judson Memorial Church:
It hop-scotched about on other sections of the church before I lost it for good:
A hyper, playful moment:
I looked for the other fledglings for a bit but didn’t happen to see them.
I had good timing with my visit overall because it started to rain later in the day and has been raining ever since so far.