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

Nest visits, sun baths, and a roost in the nest – March 8th, 2017

I saw both Washington Square Park Red-tailed Hawks during my hour and a half visit today.

I spotted Sadie atop One Fifth Avenue as soon as I rounded the corner of the park:

She was having a sun bath and preening:

She was content so I looked around the park trees for Bobby. I wasn’t finding him and Sadie gave me the slip so I stood outside Bobst Library in the hopes of catching one of the Hawks fly into the nest. The Hawks have been busy attending to the nest lately so I figured my chances were good.

As luck would have it, my back was turned when Bobby zoomed into the nest. I saw his landing out of the corner of my eye but that doesn’t help you any unless you were watching him on the Hawk cam!

I waited about 25 minutes for him to fly out. The photo I got of him as he zipped out was terribly unblogworthy.

He flew low over the buildings edging the northern border of the park. I caught up with him and Sadie sitting on a building’s heat vent a block north of the park.

Bobby on the left:

Keeping their balance during a wind gust:

Bobby moved over, paused, then dove off:

Sadie watched as he flew a couple blocks north:

She flew several seconds later:

Bobby had gone northwest and she flew northeast.

All was quiet until the park pigeons started to panic 15 minutes later:

I am not certain but this might have been a Cooper’s Hawk diving toward the pigeons:

A raptor flew south over Bobst Library but I couldn’t tell if it was one of the WSP Hawks or a Cooper’s Hawk.

Bobby appeared from the south a couple of minutes later:

He circled a few times before heading east and away from the park:

I waited around for the Hawks to return but it wasn’t happening so I left for the day.

I was pleased to see that the new plastic bags were out of the nest once I checked on the cam when I got home.

There was a new piece of paper in the nest:

Both Hawks entered the nest and did some tidying. Bobby lower right:

Bobby flew out and Sadie started to incorporate the paper into the nest bowl:

She tested it out by sitting on it briefly:

The night vision function switched on once it became dark outside:

Sadie roosting in the nest this evening:

You can still see her in the nest if you are seeing this post tonight.


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