Red-tailed Hawk landing on nest, Bobst Library, NYU, New York City

Hawk mating and sunning beauties – February 26th, 2017

I spent an hour with the Washington Square Park Red-tailed Hawks today. Sadie was the first Hawk I saw. She was sitting atop One Fifth Avenue (as usual!):

I had brought another camera with me so I could photograph this view from a different perspective. My telephoto lens doesn’t allow for wide-angled shots. Here’s a different perspective of how One Fifth Avenue looks while standing in the park:

And another view when standing further back:

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Sadie was peacefully sitting on her perch:

It was lucky for me because I had just arrived at the park, took a couple of snaps of her, then saw Bobby swoop in from the northeast and land right next to her:

He hopped up and landed on her back then mated with her:

The mating lasted seconds. The Hawks then rested and had a nice sun bath:

Sadie’s eyes closed:

Bobby moved down the ledge a half hour later:

Sadie walked over to him after a few minutes and cuddled up next to him:

I had to go so I left the two lovebirds:

A different view of the Bobst Library and nest. The nest is in the second window ledge from the right:

I checked on the NYU Hawk Nest cam later in the day and saw Sadie in the nest (along with last year’s dud egg). The plastic that had been lining the nest bowl was now out of place and flapping about in the breeze:

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