I went to bed early last night so apologies for getting this post out a day late. 🙂
I spent a couple of hours following the Washington Square Park Red-tailed Hawk fledgling around yesterday morning.
I heard the fledgling crying over and over so I followed its sounds and spotted it on the park arch:
A kind park visitor informed me that one of the parents brought a mouse/rat to the babe on the arch. The adult then went to the other corner of the arch then flew away.
The fledgling dropped his food onto the walkway. I was then told that a couple of women walking past weren’t sure what to do with the mouse so they swept it away. The fledgling kept looking down and crying for his lost meal. The poor kid! He was a bit more relaxed when I caught up with him.
Hello:
Still crying:
I saw who I later figured out was papa Bobby approaching from the north. He was being dive-bombed by a Kestrel at first. He escaped it and flew in front of One Fifth Avenue and continued flying toward the east side of the park:
The fledgling preened, walked around, cried every once in a while, and received visitors:
Stretch:
He leapt into the eastern trees after 40 minutes:
I saw him fly from tree to tree but I lost him. I saw Bobby atop NYU’s Silver Center. I managed to catch him fly off and north again:
I finally found the fledgling again. He was zipping from tree to tree then settled down to relax and preen a bit:
My fellow Hawk-watcher pointed out the little squirrel who was watching us:
The Hawk on the branch in the background:
A flock of Sparrows flew to his tree:
A squirrel charged him a couple of times but the fledgling was taking no guff and charged right back:
Calling again:
He left his tree after 20 minutes and relocated:
When he flew off he dove pretty close to me which was awfully exciting:
He circled several times before flying through the trees again:
I spotted him on a building outside the southeastern corner of the park:
He then flew toward the top of Bobst Library (the location of the nest). We couldn’t see him from the street so my friend brought us to a viewpoint from 5th Ave and 8th Street. From there we were able to see him on the roof:
Park arch on the right:
Seen from below the arch:
He then impressed and amazed me and my friend by diving into an extended hunting position:
Tucked in for speed:
He then turned on a dime and flew westward (his wing feathers looking fully grown in and terrific now):
One World Trade Center to the left:
He then dove off and tucked into his zooming position again:
He was so fast I could hardly keep up with him.
He went into the eastern trees again. We looked for him and didn’t see him directly but we did see one Hawk follow another as they swiftly flew toward the top of the library.
We weren’t able to see them from our vantage point so we figured it was a good time for us to leave for the day.
My friend returned to the park later in the evening and reported that the fledgling had been seen atop One (oops, I meant Two) Fifth Avenue. The fledgling then went into the trees again and followed a parent around.