One of the regular Washington Square Park dudes that I see hanging out there often saw me looking for the Hawks and approached me smiling and said, “She got the pigeon, huh”. His statement confused me so I replied with something like, “I’m sorry?”. Then the man pointed over to a tree and said, “She caught a pigeon”. It was then that I saw Rosie eating a pigeon on one of the Hawks’ dining table branches so I thanked the man and stepped a little closer so I could watch her:
It was indeed Rosie.
I watched her eat for six minutes.
Wiping up:
Bobby then appeared, flying to the pigeon so he could have his share:
Bobby and Rosie looked at each other at one point:
A tourist group gathered to watch Rosie. I don’t think they saw Bobby because he was semi-blocked from their view by the large branch.
Rosie looked back at them:
She looked at me too. I suppose she regards me similarly.
She rested for ten more minutes while Bobby ate. She then flew a few trees further west:
Bobby:
He ate for just over twenty minutes.
Picking his talons clean:
He flew a bit further west of Rosie’s tree.
Bobby:
To another tree two minutes later:
Rosie:
She joined Bobby at his branch five minutes after he landed:
I used a small point-and-shoot camera to capture the larger scene since I’m unable to do so with my telephoto lens. You can see Bobby and Rosie seated together in the tree second from the left:
Rosie flew to a new tree even further west after a couple of minutes (Bobby’s lower half seen on the branch):
Bobby still on his branch, Rosie in the distance on hers (photo taken with my point-and-shoot):
Rosie spotted prey (most likely a rat) in low foliage and hovered down toward it thirty six minutes after having landed in her last tree:
One wing protruding from the foliage:
She didn’t catch anything.
I saw generally what tree she landed in but I stayed close to Bobby instead of chasing after her.
My tactic paid off because I saw her flying from north to south (center of the photo below) two minutes later:
She landed on a street lamp she’d landed on a few times before in the past. She was at the intersection of West 4th Street and MacDougal:
She flew off after one minute:
I didn’t get to see where she landed thanks to the heavy foliage that was in the way.
I spotted her flying just south of the park nine minutes later:
She landed on a regular NYU Education Building flag pole perch:
From left to right: Silver Center, Education Building, Shimkin Hall, Bobst Library:
Starlings seemed to mob her as she flew off her pole and soared above the park square for several minutes:
Bobby was resting and digesting the whole time:
Rosie flew to One Fifth Avenue:
She left after thirty five minutes:
I didn’t see her again until two minutes later. She was perched on a building outside the southern border of the park:
A pair of Crows were loudly cawing and dive-bombing her:
I then saw Bobby fly in her direction.
He landed on Judson Memorial Church’s cross:
Rosie disappeared in the trees at the eastern side of the park:
He landed on the corner of the Education Building after three minutes:
I took my eye off him for a second and lost him.
A bit of nice news is that a fellow Hawk-watcher spotted Bobby and Rosie roosting on the same rung together at the Red Roost Inn last night (but not tonight).