I had a long birding outing with no results at first (searching throughout both Washington Square Park and Union Square Park for the WSP Red-tailed Hawks) but it all paid off once I spotted Rosie and Bobby three blocks south of the park.
Flowers in Washington Square Park:
I had seen an adult Red-tail at the corner of Bleecker and Mercer Streets a week ago so I figured I’d try that area again.
Success! I saw Rosie on a water tower (being harassed by a Mockingbird as usual).
She was on the south side of Houston Street (One World Trade Center in the background):
The red “A” below indicates roughly where she was in relation to the park (which is the green space at the top of the map):
She then flew off the water tower and landed on a fire escape along Mercer Street:
The building happens to house the Angelika Film Center, a popular movie theater that opened there 25 years ago.
Bobby then appeared. He had flown up to the railing from the wall behind them:
He flew off after a few seconds (Rosie is preening on the right):
He circled around and then returned to the fire escape:
Rosie:
Bobby:
He flew east behind the building then disappeared.
Rosie then took flight and circled above:
She surprised me by flying a block further southeast. It was the furthest south I’d ever seen her go.
I spotted Bobby across Houston Street while I was looking to see if Rosie would circle back:
Bobby then returned to the Angelika building:
Rosie reappeared, following him:
Rosie flew to the railing while Bobby moved to the floor of the fire escape:
Bobby on the left:
He landed on the building top (and just out of sight):
Rosie flew to the roof as well:
She then flew closer to him but I couldn’t find where they were despite walking around the building and looking from every possible angle from the street.
I looked very carefully at my photos when I got home in order to see if there was nesting material on the fire escape or along the back wall but did not see anything that looked very much like nesting material. There was a jumble of coated wires and a few thin pipes lying on the fire escape but they appeared to have been left that way by building workers or utility workers.
The Hawks’ behavior definitely made me wonder what they were doing up there and why they kept returning to the site so I’ll keep my eyes on it and see if they do start bringing material there.