When I first arrived at Washington Square Park today I saw a Hawk in one of Bobby’s favorite trees:
I thought, ‘Oh good! Bobby’s here’ but when I got closer I realized it was a juvenile Red-tail:
It flew from tree to tree with lots of zeal. I hadn’t seen a youngster so active in a while so I had a hard time keeping up with it at first.
It flew from the western side of the park to the eastern side.
Hello:
A fellow Hawk-watcher joined me and we watched the juvenile for a bit when all of a sudden we heard Bobby screaming overhead. He was en route to One Fifth Avenue. It was pretty clear to us that he had seen the juvenile and was yelling about it.
He perched on One Fifth but looked down right at the juvenile in the tree below him:
Bobby screamed and descended into the trees and headed right toward the little Hawk:
The youngster started crying and chirping:
Bobby then flew at it in attack mode:
Bobby would sit still for a minute or two before attacking again:
A squirrel came over and watched the two for a while:
Bobby got right into the youngster’s face and stared at it:
Bobby then flew out of the park and into a tree outside the northern border, leaving the young Hawk in its tree.
Gusts of wind made the Hawk cling to the branch:
Bobby:
Bobby returned after a minute.
Bobby on the left, the youngster on the right:
Bobby approached again, getting even closer in its face:
He chased it out of the trees:
He and the juvenile soared and circled in the sky screaming at each other. Bobby was doing all the chasing.
Bobby:
A Peregrine Falcon appeared from the southeast and joined in the fight, dive-bombing one of the Hawks:
Bobby:
Bobby chased the juvenile northeast and out of the park.
Victorious, he then went back to One Fifth:
He eventually drifted down to the trees where he usually hunts rats but then went right to bed at sunset:
All told, the Hawk fights in the trees happened over the course of 20 minutes. The sky drama lasted only 3 minutes before the juvenile left.
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I couldn’t be in the park yesterday but a friend who did spent lots of time there yesterday and today and saw no sign of the female that was released in the park on Tuesday.