The adult Washington Square Park Red-tailed Hawks have been seen perched atop a building a few blocks north of the park lately so that was the first place a fellow Hawk-watcher and I checked today.
There were no Hawks there so we made our way to the park.
I glanced over in time to see,through a gap between two buildings,one of the adult Hawks land on the NYU Education building flagpole.
The lighting and distance were not helpful for identification but I believe the Hawk that was on the flagpole was Bobby.
The other adult Hawk appeared and flew to the nest after 8 minutes:
I believe the Hawk in the nest was Sadie but as I wrote before, the lighting was tricky for me to be absolutely certain.
The Hawk wove material into the nest, did some general housekeeping, and even sat in the nest bowl for extended periods of time.
‘Bobby’ flew off his perch 40 minutes after the other Hawk flew into the nest. He then did some pigeon hunting.
He first circled above the pigeon flock that frequents the Washington Mews (one block north of the park). He scared up pigeons but did not dive for one.
He then flew over the park and circled above the pigeon flock that frequents 3rd Street (one block south of the park).
You can only just see him against the backdrop of the One World Trade building:
A Peregrine Falcon circled above 3rd Street as well, perhaps to intimidate Bobby. If that was the case, it may have worked because Bobby moved on and headed northeast.
I didn’t get a great photo of the Peregrine I’m afraid:
Sadie continued fortifying the nest and resting in the bowl:
We had been watching her for an hour. She didn’t look to be in any particular hurry to fly out so we tore ourselves away for the day.