Bobby was sitting on one of his favorite Silver Center railing perches when I arrived at Washington Square Park today.
He was looking over his nest and family:
I watched him for ten minutes. He looked relaxed so I moved in order to get a better look at Rosie in the nest.
She was up, probably looking at her babes:
She left the nest after a minute:
She went right to the Judson Memorial Church cross:
Bobby stayed put:
A Mockingbird was none too pleased with her presence:
It left her alone after four minutes.
The clouds cleared a bit:
All of a sudden she started watching something intently:
It was Bobby, circling above Silver Center:
I watched as he circled back around and headed toward the nest. But then I lost sight of him when he flew behind some tree tops located below the nest.
He brought something to the nest five minutes later but I did not get a look at what it was. I saw him with a twig in his beak right after he landed so maybe he had been gathering nesting material from the tree.
The hatchlings had been left alone (although under the watchful eyes of their parents) for 26 minutes. Rosie left the cross and joined Bobby two minutes after he had entered the nest:
Bobby left after less than a minute:
He flew over the park square then went right back to his Silver Center perch:
I looked and saw that Bobby was gone.
I then saw him land at the northeastern corner of One Fifth Ave four minutes later:
A Mockingbird appeared, looking down at him:
It then harassed him for a few. But what I thought was funny at first was that a bee was originally harassing the Mockingbird! You can see it flying behind the Mockingbird in the photo above.
The bee followed the Mockingbird when it flew down to dive-bomb Bobby:
The bee soon flew away.
I wouldn’t be surprised if this Mockingbird was the same one that was bothering Rosie earlier.
Bobby tried to escape the Mockingbird after three minutes but it wasn’t so easy:
Peace at last:
I left Washington Square Park after a few minutes then visited NYU’s Sasaki Garden (which is built atop an underground parking garage) a block south.
Crabapple blossoms:
Downy Woodpecker:
This garden is set between NYU housing buildings that raptors Bobby, Rosie, a Cooper’s Hawk, and a Kestrel have all been seen overlooking (presumably hunting the pigeons or rats that inhabit the space) over the last few years.
I’ve walked past the garden dozens of times but today was the first day I sat down inside it to enjoy. I was inspired to do so thanks to the tip (and lovely photos) from a recent Ephemeral New York post.
The space is being contested by residents and community members who wish to preserve it and NYU which wants to partially raze it order to build towers as part of their expansion program.