I had camera settings problems while en route to Washington Square Park today so I missed photographing some action like one of the TSP (Tompkins Square Park) Hawks hunting pigeons over Bowery, one (or the same) TSP Hawk on a regular building perch, and Bobby on a new perch northeast of the park.
Thankfully I was able to correct my settings once I was in Washington Square Park.
A Yellow-bellied Sapsucker was busy peeling tree bark to uncover grubby snacks:
A squirrel licked water from one of the last piles of snow remaining in the park:
Sadie was in the nest. She rose once and looked like she was rotating eggs:
I was afraid of getting caught in the rain so I left pretty quickly.
I walked eastward along East 4th Street and could see one of the Tompkins Square Park Hawks on a regular First Avenue building perch:
The red A in the Google Maps satellite view below shows where that building is in relation to Washington Square Park (due east from the park):
I then walked to Cooper Square (a couple of blocks north of 4th Street) to take pictures of the new perch I saw Bobby on earlier.
I had seen him sitting on the heat vent cover below (on 3rd Avenue between 9th & 10th Streets):
View of the busy street below that building:
That building is around the corner from Cooper Union art school:
To get another perspective, Washington Square Park is on the extreme left, the art school on the extreme right:
I had seen Bobby overlooking Cooper Square in the past but had never seen him actively hunt there until today.
I was photographing the buildings when all of a sudden I saw a big bird flying above them so I started to photograph it thinking, ‘Hmmm, that kind of looks like a Falc- oh, it’s Bobby!’
I recognized him from a current gap in the fifth main feather on his right wing and by the fact that he’d been seen in that vicinity a few times in the past.
He circled the pigeons who gather on the side of the art school and little Cooper Park:
He then tucked in and dove like a bullet toward 4th Street but I didn’t get to see if he caught anything.
He and Rosie used to sit together on the top floor’s railing of this building that runs along Broadway (I saw Bobby up there as recently as March 21st):
The building is so tall, it overlooks Cooper Square. Bobby and Rosie would dive toward the Cooper Square pigeons but I would miss seeing if they caught anything because of tall buildings blocking my view.
It began to rain so I high-tailed it out of the area for the day.