Today was full of Hawk action. I saw Bobby fly into the nest to do some housecleaning and later Bobby and Sadie take a break to sun bathe.
There was a raptor circling very high above Washington Square Park at the start of my visit. A regular park-goer pointed it out to me.
This photo isn’t good but I wanted to add it to show its silhouette:
It circled several times then flew northwest of the park.
One of the Hawks appeared on a heat vent on a building a block northeast of the park 25 minutes later:
It dove off then flew east of the park after a couple of minutes:
It flew behind one of the buildings bordering the eastern side of the park then flew very quickly and directly to the nest. It turned out to be Bobby:
I couldn’t see what he was doing while in the nest thanks to my vantage point but I saw nest sticks moving about. A fellow Hawk-watcher was watching the Hawk cam at the same time and let me know Bobby was doing some nest tidying.
Bobby flew out of the nest after 5 minutes:
The underside of his tail feathers are sooty from so much chimney stack heating:
He landed on the Judson Memorial Church cross:
Sadie was sunning on the building at the southwest corner of the park, in view of Bobby:
Bobby flew south of the park 10 minutes later:
Sadie continued sunning:
I looked for Bobby but couldn’t find him so I went back to the park to watch Sadie:
I think I missed seeing a mating. I turned my back and walked several paces to try to get a better view of her. All of a sudden I heard high-pitched calling. I turned and saw her sitting with wings outstretched and flapping. I think I had missed seeing Bobby mate with her and fly away. It was just my luck!
Sadie moved to the southern side of her building top:
She flew off, circled the western side of the park then disappeared:
I checked on the Con Ed tower several minutes later and spotted a Hawk on the top:
I walked around for a bit then returned to have another look at the tower. It looked very much like a second Hawk was now on the tower (left of the first bird).
Compare both photos and you can see a new shape on the tower crown:
I had already been out of the park for about half an hour when a friend texted me to inform me that Bobby was back in the nest.
Sadie joined him in the nest about half an hour later. They both worked on arranging the nest twigs. One of the two ‘dud’ eggs still in the nest from last spring got cracked from the Hawks’ movements in the nest.
Sadie left the nest after a few and Bobby reentered the nest. My friend then watched while Bobby ate the contents of the cracked egg then wiped his beak clean afterward. Incredible behavior and footage!