The second Hawk baby to have fledged (F2) was flying from tree to tree in hunting mode this morning when I dropped by Washington Square Park.
It spotted a pet tortoise on the lawn and flew over to have a look:
The fledgling hovered above the tortoise for a second before continuing on and landing in a nearby tree:
It looked like the fledgling was only curious about the strange creature but regardless, I helped its owner guard the little tortoise while the fledgling was still close by.
The fledgling resumed looking for rats and mice in the low brush:
It flew over the bushes where it caught a rat on July 18th then landed in a new tree:
Off to another part of the park:
The fledgling then flew from the west side of the park, to the east side, then south after it and I noticed Sadie circling the southern section with food.
The fledgling is seen right above the gray structure in the photo below:
The fledgling flew to the far eastern side of the park:
It took a few minutes but I finally located it on the east-facing side of NYU’s Silver Center:
I had to follow the sound of its cries in order to locate it.
Preening:
On the north-facing side of NYU’s Shimkin building, still crying:
As I’ve mentioned before, this fledgling is a real cry baby:
It flew to the top railing of Silver:
It spotted mama Hawk Sadie sitting atop One Fifth Avenue so it started crying more earnestly. It then leapt off the perch and made the long and high flight toward mom:
It landed on a level about halfway up the building:
Its flight was impressive to me because it was a pretty long and high distance to travel.
Sadie looked down upon the babe:
The fledgling landed on the top of the structure before hopscotching closer to Sadie:
The fledgling disappeared when it flew toward the back of the building.
Sadie descended and circled low above the fledgling:
She then landed on another corner of One Fifth:
The fledgling stopped trying to reach Sadie and landed on a lower perch on a neighboring building (a heat grate I’ve seen Hawks on for years).
A Mockingbird dive-bombed it:
Sadie flew to the south side of the park again:
The fledgling followed:
Both Hawks flew out of sight a block south of the park.
I then saw Bobby and Sadie circling in the sky above the park several minutes later:
They both left the park, one following the other. I left for the day since I’d already been there for a couple of hours and got my fill of some good Hawk action.
It’s been a few days since I and a fellow Hawk-watcher have confirmed seeing both fledglings at the same time. There’s still a good chance the first fledgling is around. It is more advanced than F2 and has been exploring areas further away from the park so it has not been surprising that it’s been more difficult to locate.