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.