Today’s 2 1/2 hour visit to Washington Square Park was full of Hawks: One juvenile, Bobby, Sadie, and a Cooper’s Hawk.
The first Hawks I saw were a juvenile and Bobby circling over the park square:
I missed a shot of them diving toward each other aggressively.
Bobby escorted the juvenile away from his territory:
The little Hawk dove west out of the park.
Bobby perched on the southwest corner of One Fifth:
I spotted a Hawk on the ConEd tower. I’ll assume it was Bobby’s mate Sadie considering she’s perched with Bobby there several times in the past:
The pigeons panicked repeatedly as I watched Bobby and Sadie(?) rest on their respective perches. A bird flew to and landed in the tree in front of me. I thought, ‘That’s a strange, fluffy-looking pigeon. Oh! A Cooper’s Hawk! Thank you!’
It soon flew to a tree a lawn away:
It looked like the Cooper’s Hawk from the 10th which perched in the same group of trees and hunted the same pigeons as this one so it might be the same Hawk.
Flying past the arch pigeons to the east side trees:
It dove toward the northeast corner pigeons and disappeared. I headed over and was pleased to see it relaxed and sunning:
Bobby stood up and stretched:
Bobby soon dove to the southwest corner building and perched there for a spell.
The Cooper’s Hawk left its tree while I was watching Bobby fly. I thought I had lost it for the day so I was happy to find it in a tree along the northern path:
It had a rat. Unfortunately I did not see it catch it.
The Cooper’s Hawk spent the next hour and 10 minutes eating the rat:
Sadie appeared, dove across the park, and perched on the Judson Church cross base:
Hello:
A pair of squirrels chased and played with each other, oblivious to (or not bothered by) the Hawk:
Sadie left the church and sat next to Bobby:
The two Red-tails then took to the northern skies and flew together for a little while.
The Cooper’s Hawk watched them:
The Cooper’s dropped the last chunk of its meal on the playground underneath its tree.
Wiping up:
I was freezing cold so I started to leave. Looking back at the Cooper’s Hawk:
I got to see it jump off its perch and dive toward the northeast pigeons again:
It was the perfect cap to my outing.