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

Sleepy fledgling gets a pigeon meal – July 4th, 2014

I hadn’t been able to bird the last few days on account of the intense heat and/or the heavy rain we’ve had lately. It was a treat to get to see one of the fledglings and both Rosie and Bobby today.

It’s the 4th of July today so the area around Washington Square Park was especially quiet and empty.

I spotted one of the fledglings as soon as I got to the corner of Mercer Street and Washington Place, the same area where I saw both fledglings on June 24th.

Sleepy:

The fledgling got up and stretched after an hour:

Bobby showed up with part of a pigeon 45 minutes after the fledgling’s stretch:

Rosie showed up too:

Bobby delivered the pigeon body to what is now a regular new ‘dinner table’:

Rosie came in for a landing after Bobby:

The fledgling cried out then went to the food.

Bobby leaving the ledge (the fledgling’s tail feathers poking out over the edge):

Rosie left the ledge less than a minute later.

The fledgling eating:

Rosie reappeared and landed on a building just east of the fledgling:

She was soon harassed by a Mockingbird:

It didn’t stay with her for long.

Rosie settled down and scanned the area and preened a bit:

Bobby reappeared as well. He circled above the buildings then disappeared southwest of us.

Rosie:

She left her perch after 35 minutes, rounded her building’s corner, then flew to a water tower overlooking the fledgling and the pigeon:

A fellow Hawk-watcher I was with saw the fledgling was tucked back a little further on the ledge but I couldn’t see it from my angle.

Rosie flew off the water tower and landed at the food to have her meal after her youngster had its fill:

She ate for 20 minutes.

Picking her talons clean:

She flew down the street and to one of the Hawks’ favorite Silver Center perches:

It had begun to rain several minutes earlier so I packed up and left once it looked like Rosie wasn’t going to leave any time soon.

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