Today was great because I was able to see both Washington Square Park Red-tailed Hawks at the same time. It had been a while since I’d seen them both. I visited the park at an ‘off’ time for me and it paid off.
I first spotted Bobby at the western side of the park:
I had noticed several pigeon feathers on the sidewalk and looked around to see where there had been a recent meal plucking. Kinda like following bread crumbs. I didn’t see the source of the feathers but did see Bobby in that instant.
He was seated above a park regular’s pigeon-feeding bench:
Bobby looked interested in something in the distance but I couldn’t tell what he was looking at at first. I then noticed Sadie way in the distance, on a regular perch a couple of blocks north of the park.
Bobby eventually moved to a new tree:
Off to another one:
He was in hunting mode.
He flew over to the northwest corner patch and grabbed a small rat from the ground. It happened so fast!
He brought it to the trees to eat:
He moved to a couple of different trees before he found the perfect branch.
He ate for about 15 minutes. He then flew out of the trees and a block north out of the park. He circled around a bit before disappearing.
I snapped a couple of photos of Sadie on her perch:
She stayed put the hour and a half I was in the park watching Bobby. It was the kind of visit I had been waiting weeks for.
In case you weren’t aware, the park manager assured me that there is still no rat poison in the park because of the resident Hawks.