There were a few Hawk fights during my visit at Washington Square Park today. Bobby and Sadie worked hard to maintain superiority but they fought valiantly.
Workers at Sadie’s favorite southwestern building perch:
I looked up to see Bobby, Sadie, and a Juvenile circling above Bobst Library.
Juvenile:
Bobby did all the chasing.
Bobby on the left, juvenile on the right:
Sadie flew east out of the park while Bobby escorted the juvenile to the southwestern border of the park.
Bobby then perched on one of his favorite flag poles.
All of a sudden I saw a Hawk dive into a couple of pigeon flocks in the center of the park. The juvenile was back!
Bobby screamed and jumped off his flag pole then gave chase:
I barely managed to get a shot of them flying through the trees (Bobby at the upper right, the juvenile at the lower left):
They both left the park at the northwest corner.
Bobby circled the sky then returned to the park. He circled above the library while Sadie sat at his flag pole. The juvenile was nowhere to be seen. Bobby’s victory didn’t last long though because a Peregrine Falcon began to dive-bomb him. It dove at him at least a dozen times.
Some of my favorite fight scenes:
Poor Bobby was on the defense the whole time:
Peregrine tucked in and zooming toward him:
I never saw them make contact.
Bobby tucked into a dive then landed on the smaller, round antenna next to Sadie’s flag pole on NYU’s Education Building:
I missed seeing where he flew next.
I headed over to get a closer look at Sadie.
Passing Geese:
She left her perch 50 minutes after I got closer to her:
She yelled and joined Bobby in chasing a Peregrine Falcon. It may have been the same Falcon that had been dive-bombing Bobby earlier since they were flying together in relatively the same air space.
This time Bobby and Sadie were the aggressors.
Falcon tucking in and diving into a cloud:
Bobby and Sadie:
Bobby and Sadie circling above a patio from which the Hawks have gathered potted nest material in the past:
Chimney heat wave dive-bomb:
Sadie chased the Falcon southwestward.
Bobby flew north then east toward Broadway:
Most of this Hawk and Falcon action was occurring above 4th Street.
The great thing about 4th Street is that at the far east end you can see one of the Tompkins Square Park Hawks’ favorite chimney perches (atop one of theVillage View Housing Corporation buildings):
One of the TSP Hawks was right there:
You can then turn around on 4th Street and face west toward Washington Square Park (the red Bobst Library and Judson Memorial Church on the south side):
Across the street, on the north side, is the Education Building (you can also see Sadie’s favorite southwestern roof in the distance; the first building shown in this post):
Follow along 4th Street in the map below from Washington Square Park to the corner of 1st Avenue to see where the Tompkins Square Park Hawk’s perch was:
There’s little doubt the two Hawk pair neighbors can see each other when flying above the building tops.
The excitement was over so I left for the day.