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

Juvenile catches a rat under Bobby’s watch – October 12th, 2015

A fellow Hawk-watcher alerted me that a juvenile Red-tailed Hawk was in Washington Square Park this morning so I rushed right over. I missed seeing it when I arrived so I looked for Bobby and Sadie. It’s migration time so it’s not surprising that Hawks are passing through the park these days.

Bobby was looking splendid in the western trees this morning:

Chin scratch:

He flew from tree to tree after an hour and ten minutes then made a pass at a creature in the brush but didn’t catch anything:

He traveled to a tree further east:

It was then when I noticed the juvenile Hawk in a pine tree near where my friend had last seen it:

Bobby watched it but surprisingly didn’t chase it:

I moved closer to the juvenile:

It was pretty relaxed and preening:

Hello:

Bobby moved to a closer tree, overlooking the juvenile:

The juvenile looked like it noticed Bobby but didn’t act perturbed:

The juvenile left its tree after about an hour and hopped about the lawn below (Bobby had left the immediate area at this point):

It tussled with a challenging squirrel but the fight ended quickly:

The juvenile spotted prey and made its pounce:

It had caught a rat:

The Hawk spent all this time close to some benches, attracting lots of attention. Several people were fascinated and chatted with me about the Hawks.

Wiping up:

The juvenile flew to a tree further south and sat to digest:

I had been at the park for almost 4 hours so I took a parting shot for the day:


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