Rosie was sitting on her Silver Center railing perch and Bobby on a Silver Center flag pole when I arrived at Washington Square Park this morning. Rosie was looking over the park and Bobby was preening and having a good scratch.
Rosie jumped and dove down into the park but the trees blocked my view of where she wound up. I could tell she was hunting.
There were a couple of Parks Enforcement Patrol officers stationed in the park; a rarity. I was glad to see them. I talked to them for a few minutes about the fledglings. They were knowledgeable about the birds and said they were definitely available to help with crowd control should the Hawks need it.
I saw Rosie and Bobby flying together a block south of the park a few minutes later. They flew out of sight so I continued looking for the fledglings.
I didn’t find a fledgling until fifty minutes after I had arrived. It was only just visible in its small tree. I am sure I walked past it a couple of times when looking for it earlier.
The park was still relatively empty at the time and only two other people noticed it so the fledgling did not get crowded or scared by curious people getting close to it. Regardless, I took only a few shots from a distance so as not to attract attention to the bird.
This weekend was pretty crazy with all the crowds closely surrounding the fledglings and I was doing my best to be discreet and to not point out its exact location with my photography since the bird was on a low branch and right near the sidewalk.
In the distance I saw Rosie quickly land on a patch of lawn she regularly captures rodents at. She was on top of something. She held still for a moment, looking about her. I was surprised to see that no one else had noticed her even though people were seated on a bench not fifteen feet from her.
She caught a Sparrow that had probably been foraging on the ground:
She was in decoy mode, first perching on a high location away from the fledglings.
She then took the food to a fledgling that was on Silver.
It could have been F1 since it has been on Silver since early yesterday morning.
Watching her babe eat:
The fledgling then moved out of sight. I kept hearing a fledgling begging from near where the fledgling had its meal but I don’t know if it was the one who ate or a different fledgling near it. It was not the fledgling I had been watching in its tree.
Back with the treed bird:
The fledgling became active, moving from branch to branch then eventually to a larger tree nearby. It made its way up the tree.
It reached very high up, nicely tucked away from anyone who didn’t know to search for it.
I walked on to look for the third fledgling and to see if I could re-find the fledgling on Silver.I had no luck finding either.
Rosie back on Silver (scanning for prey again maybe):
Bobby to her right:
The sun came out again.
Bobby:
I left the park after having visited for a few hours but not before getting a parting shot of Bobby and Rosie.
Bobby is on the left on his American flag pole and Rosie to the right on the corner of Silver’s roof railing:
