Red-tailed Hawk landing on nest, Bobst Library, NYU, New York City

Rosie’s lost pigeon, fledgling having a meal – June 15th, 2014

I saw Bobby and Rosie land one after the other on a building on West 4th Street between Lafayette and Mercer Streets. The building is a couple of blocks east of Washington Square Park:

Zoomed in (Bobby landing):

Their general location in relation to the park:

A fellow Hawk-watcher who was already in the park and watching one of the fledglings on NYU’s Silver Center building joined me.

Bobby flew off the building then headed toward Broadway.

Rosie immediately followed him:

Rosie on a water tower overlooking Broadway:

My friend told me they had seen one of the fledglings on a building not far from Rosie’s water tower within the last couple of days so we hoped to see the other fledgling in that area this morning but had no luck.

Rosie flew off the water tower and toward the buildings outside the park.

We caught up with the fledgling that had been eating on the regular ‘dinner table’ atop Silver Center.

The view from Washington Place:

The view from the park:

As we searched for the other fledgling, Rosie appeared, toting a Sparrow.

She hovered in the sky above us for several long seconds before landing on the building across from her:

A Mockingbird dive-bombed her several times:

She flew off her building, rounded the street corner, then landed on a park-facing corner of Silver:

She spotted her prey:

She caught a pigeon in mid-air!

It struggled and flapped. It miraculously got away from Rosie’s clutches and flew away (having lost many feathers during the ordeal):

Rosie then flew across the park and perched on scaffolding at Judson Memorial Church:

Returning to the eastern side:

My friend and I were delighted to have her fly right above us, over our right shoulders, and to a nearby tree.

She then flew to the same building top I saw her land at the last time I was in the park:

She then circled above and flew toward Silver again:

We searched for the fledglings again but they were both out of sight. We figured the one that had been eating atop Silver was probably napping after its long meal.

We watched as Bobby landed on the NYU Education Building flag pole. Rosie then landed on the round antenna dish.

Rosie flew off, circled around, then headed toward Bobby:

I was hoping, as she flew nearer and nearer to him, that she would land on his back like she did last January.

She did!

She was only on his back for a couple of seconds before she floated off:

She then circled around and headed south. Bobby quickly followed her. We couldn’t find them after searching for a few minutes so we took the opportunity to leave for the day.

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