A couple of fellow Hawk-watchers have seen the Washington Square Park fledgling dive toward prey on the ground over the last few days.
Today was the first day I got to see him do the same. He didn’t catch any of the critters but he was getting great practice in. He doesn’t seem to need Bobby to show him the ropes (unlike Pip who needed to be trained). No, this fledgling has the killer instinct all wrapped up.
I saw what appeared to be graffiti on the park arch (boo!):
I heard the fledgling crying in the western side of the park so I followed his voice until I spotted him high in a tree:
He would stare at pigeons and squirrels on the ground (this pigeon pair especially):
He sat on his perch for an hour before making a dive:
Another dive after another minute:
Into a new tree and out again:
He settled down in a new tree and preened a bit. He was still alert though and a Blue Jay even visited him to harass him.
He flew out and away 6 minutes after landing in this tree:
I looked but couldn’t find him again. It was getting brutally hot and muggy so I figured it was a good time to leave.
A man was washing away the arch graffiti with a brush. It was washing away so easily, and the man was not dressed as a park worker so I wondered if perhaps the tag was a prop of some kind. In either case, the arch should be back to normal.
