Washington Square tree update, expanded Hawk search – August 16th, 2017

I was in Washington Square Park early this morning to look for the Hawks. I spent a little over two hours looking for them in the park and several blocks north and east of the park to no avail. I saw no Hawks. Neither did a fellow Hawk-watcher when I was a few blocks away.

I was on the largest northwestern lawn when all of a sudden I noticed I had a dramatically increased view of the sky in one area. The park trees have been getting pruned by arborists over the last several days so at first I thought the view was due to pruning when all of a sudden I realized an entire huge tree had been removed! This heap was located near where the tree once stood:

I was sad at this discovery because it was a tree Bobby and fledgling(s) have perched on often. In fact, it was the first tree I watched this year’s fledgling sit in at the beginning of this post. For those who know the park, it was a tree behind and northwest of the Hawley monument.

I assume the tree was removed because it was diseased or otherwise posed a danger to park goers so that’s understandable. And I’m glad for it, especially since it was only yesterday when an entire Central Park tree uprooted unexpectedly and injured a mother and her three young children.

I only felt the missing tree was a shame because I know how much Bobby especially used one of its main branches as a hunting perch.

Arborist attending to some other pruning:

I left the park to look for the Hawks north and east of the park.

I heard a pair of Blue Jays calling out loudly as they followed each other flying along 10th Street roof gardens. I was hoping they were chasing a Hawk but it was not to be.

A couple buildings’ rooftop greenery along 10th Street: