I saw one of the fledglings’ tail feathers sticking out over a building ledge as soon as I arrived at Washington Square Park this morning:
View from the front:
I then noticed Sadie on Silver (the building next door) preening:
I then happened to notice the second Hawk baby on a window sill three windows below Sadie:
It was a most excellent sight! I was so glad to see both Hawk babies doing great and being watched over by mom.
I recognized the fledgling below Sadie as the Hawk that was still in the nest last night.
Preening:
The first Hawk to fledge was preening as well:
For descriptive ease, I’ll refer to yesterday’s fledgling as F1 and this morning’s fledgling as F2.
Both fledglings got up and walked on their respective ledges in exploration mode.
F2:
F2:
Bobby stopped by nearly two hours later:
You can see F1’s tail feathers on the foreground window ledge as Bobby sat in the back. F1 was snoozing:
The people inside the building finally noticed F2 on their window sill. Everyone was all smiles to see the little Hawk:
F2 received an even tinier, curious visitor:
F1 woke up and explored some more:
Hello:
It was becoming extremely hot and muggy and F2 cooled down for a couple of minutes:
Sadie left Silver, picked up food from the nest, then promptly returned to Silver:
F2 flew to the side of F1’s building a few minutes later, flying quite well:
Looking up at mom:
F1 then surprised me and a fellow Hawk-watcher by flying toward the nest as well:
F1 immediately flew back to the east-side buildings:
F2:
Sadie spent 35 minutes plucking the bit of pigeon she had brought from the nest:
But unfortunately she dropped it on the sidewalk below:
She looked down on it a few times:
F2 seemed to be looking at it as well:
There were many people walking past the meat (almost stepping on it), too many for Sadie to easily avoid if she were to try to retrieve it. I was concerned for her and F2’s safety should they try to retrieve it so I picked it up (my hand wrapped in a plastic shopping bag), and tossed it into a patch of park greenery across from Sadie.
It soon began to rain, as promised in the forecast.
F1 was enduring the rain, looking up at mum:
I welcomed the rain because it gave me the perfect excuse to leave (I had been at the park for four hours and it was well time for me to go).