The Red-tailed Hawks of Washington Square Park, NYC… mostly
I spent two hours observing Bobby and Sadie Hawk today as they flew, rested, chased the juvenile Hawk that’s been hanging around the park, and rested again.
Most of the visit was full of downtime with both adult Hawks resting and sunning with brief spurts of action. It was very cold, blustery, and sometimes cloudy today.
Sadie was sunning atop One Fifth Avenue when I arrived:
A new nest cam stream is currently being tested thanks to the generosity of NYU President Andrew Hamilton’s office.
A regular park-goer informed me three days ago that they saw cameras had been installed by the Hawk nest but I forgot to take a look on my way out of the park.
However I noticed the camera set-up right away as I approached Washington Square Park today:
I had a full day of Hawk action (pictures to be posted later this evening) and inquired as to the status of the nest cam when I got home.
A kind representative from the President’s Office told me that the camera stream was still in the testing phase and that the hope is the stream will be ready to go live by the end of the month.
The Office worked with ornithologists from Cornell University for advisement while setting up the cameras.
The representative wanted to let the Hawk community know they were all very excited to return the cam.
I’ll be receiving the link to the stream once it’s live and of course will post it on my blog right away.
Cheers to the President’s Office, Cornell, and our fine Red-tailed Hawks!
It’s been super delightful having the Washington Square Park Hawks hanging out around the park for extended periods since the summer (when I wouldn’t even see them sometimes).
I first saw a Hawk circling near the Bobst Library (the location of their nest). It then dove toward the trees.
One of the Hawks landed on Judson Memorial Church’s cross not long after I started looking in the trees.
It was Bobby on the cross:
