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

Tompkins Square Hawks mating, Bobby takes the high perches – March 13th, 2015

I would have liked to have published this post last night but I was too sleepy to finish working on my pictures so I left it for this morning.

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I spotted one of the Tompkins Square Park Hawks on a regular First Avenue perch (between 3rd & 4th Streets) while I was en route to Washington Square Park.

It became obvious the bird was Dora because Christo soon joined her and then mated with her:

Heat waves off of buildings made for a wobbly effect on my photos but I kind of like the look.

I found Bobby in the nest soon after I arrived at Washington Square Park:

He hopscotched his way to Broadway.

His next perch was the twisted frame of a deconstructed water tower:

He then flew east to a building along Broadway:

He picked at the plastic wrapping for a bit. It looked like he was trying to gather some for nesting material:

I lost him after that so I returned to the park.

I saw him again one hour later on a southwestern building overlooking the park:

He sat there for 10 minutes before flying high and toward the ConEd tower several blocks northeast:

You can see the ConEd tower from a few vantage points in the park:

There he was!

Heat waves again:

He was looking over Union Square Park. He jumped off the tower and descended in the park’s direction after around 6 minutes.

He then returned to the park 10 minutes later. If he was hunting pigeons along or in Union Square Park, 10 minutes was too short a time to have caught, plucked, then eaten one so if he had eaten a fresh meal it would have been a rat or mouse.

When Bobby returned to the park he had flown over the eastern side then continued traveling east. I waited for him to return to the park grounds but didn’t see him again until about 25 minutes later when I spotted him on a regular northwestern building perch:

I was curious to see what he would do next but a friend had arrived to pick me up and I had been hanging around for two hours in the cold so I was relieved to go for the day.

I keep missing seeing his new mate Sadie lately. I know she’s around though because a fellow Hawk-watcher saw her and Bobby together as recently as yesterday (a few hours before I arrived in the park).

Cooper’s Hawk sighting and Bobby fortifying the nest – March 11th, 2015

I saw Bobby for a couple of hours today.

He and Sadie have been mating frequently but I missed seeing her today and the last time I visited Washington Square Park.

Bobby flew from flag pole perch to flag pole perch then to a regular hunting spot behind the Bobst Library:

Continue to the full post… “Cooper’s Hawk sighting and Bobby fortifying the nest – March 11th, 2015”