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

Sun and heat bath Hawks – December 28th, 2015

Most of the Red-tailed Hawks I saw today were having either a sun bath or a chimney heat sauna.

Who I think was Sadie atop the red tile roof building a couple of blocks north of Washington Square Park (seen through the park trees):

Since I was in the park later than I could normally be, I was visiting at a risky time. I was there during ‘the witching hour’, the few hours during the middle of the Hawks’ day when they typically leave the grounds.

I checked the Con Ed tower to see if Bobby was there since that perch is one of his favorites during ‘the witching hour’.

A Hawk was there!

At that distance it was not possible to tell if it was Bobby or one of the Tompkins Square Park Hawks but odds were it was Bobby since he has been there many times.

I was looking at that Hawk through the park trees as well.

You can see the tower in the distance past the park’s Garibaldi statue:

I walked to a better vantage point to see the red tile roof Hawk from but the Hawk was gone by the time I got there.

I then walked to Union Square Park, the park closest to the Con Ed tower, to see if Bobby or Sadie was in that park but no one was there (and the tower Hawk was gone as well).

As I made my way south I spotted a Hawk on a rooftop chimney (enjoying some heat). It was not possible to tell which Hawk it was since I had already disassembled my camera but I had seen Bobby on that chimney before so who knows?

I saw a Hawk circling in the sky above Astor Place (another area I’ve seen Bobby) a few minutes later but I was at a considerable distance from that bird so I could not tell who it was. I was not able to see the rooftop chimney so I couldn’t tell if it was the chimney Hawk or a different one. So all told, I either saw three or four Hawks today.


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