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

All three fledglings seen; Pigeon dives and arch perch – July 4th, 2018

I was planning on taking today off from birding until a fellow Hawk-watcher called me to let me know he saw all three fledglings in the park together. This was a big deal because I hadn’t seen all three together since the 24th. Another Hawk-watcher last reported seeing them together on the 25th.

It turns out the ‘missing’ fledgling, F1 (the first one to have fledged), had been spending most of its time in the western side of the park. I had been so busy with the two other fledglings on the eastern side of the park I neglected to do thorough searches of the western side.

I had done some cursory looking but would see no Hawks there so I’d return to the eastern side where the action was. With word of today’s sighting of all three naturally I had to drop everything and go to the park.

One of the fledglings was sitting and preening in a squirrel nest when I arrived:

Young Red-tailed Hawk fledgling sitting preening in squirrel nest, Washington Square Park (NYC)

Young Red-tailed Hawk fledgling sitting in squirrel nest, Washington Square Park (NYC)

My Hawk-watcher friend and I saw a second fledgling in the central area of the park:

Young Red-tailed Hawk fledgling sitting on tree branch, Washington Square Park (NYC)

And the third one was chasing pigeons deep in the western side of the park so we knew for sure that all three were accounted for.

The next few hours of action took place mostly on the western side of the park. The fledglings did a lot of practice dives into flocks of pigeons. They then settled down to rest in the tree shade before swooping back into action.

One of the fledglings sitting on an NYU building along on the southern side of the park:

Young Red-tailed Hawk fledgling sitting on NYU building, Washington Square Park (NYC)

Another fledgling with a wispy bit of feather stuck on its beak:

Young Red-tailed Hawk fledgling sitting on tree with feather stuck to its beak, Washington Square Park (NYC)

Young Red-tailed Hawk fledgling sitting on tree with feather stuck on its beak, Washington Square Park (NYC)

Oops, you’re not a Hawk:

The NYU building fledgling rested for a while, got up, inched along the window frame, then lost its footing. It didn’t exactly fall considering it then dipped right into flight mode:

Young Red-tailed Hawk fledgling sitting on NYU building facing the window, Washington Square Park (NYC)

Young Red-tailed Hawk fledgling sitting on NYU building with wing stretched, Washington Square Park (NYC)

Young Red-tailed Hawk fledgling losing footing on NYU building with wing stretched, Washington Square Park (NYC)

Young Red-tailed Hawk fledgling losing footing on NYU building, Washington Square Park (NYC)

Young Red-tailed Hawk fledgling flying from NYU building, Washington Square Park (NYC)

Young Red-tailed Hawk fledgling running up a tree, Washington Square Park (NYC)

Young Red-tailed Hawk fledgling sitting in a tree, looking behind it, Washington Square Park (NYC)

Young Red-tailed Hawk fledgling running up tree, Washington Square Park (NYC)

Young Red-tailed Hawk fledgling in tree looking at camera, Washington Square Park (NYC)

A young lady fed pigeons on one of the lawns:

It was great for one of the young Hawks because it seemed to enjoy watching them from above:

Young Red-tailed Hawk fledgling in tree looking down at pigeons, Washington Square Park (NYC)

Young Red-tailed Hawk fledgling in tree preening tail feathers, Washington Square Park (NYC)

Young Red-tailed Hawk fledgling in tree stretching wings, Washington Square Park (NYC)

Young Red-tailed Hawk fledgling jumping off tree, Washington Square Park (NYC)

It dove at pigeons but missed. It looked like a half-hearted effort and more like practice than serious hunting.

Young Red-tailed Hawk fledgling looking at squirrels surrounding it, Washington Square Park (NYC)

Young Red-tailed Hawk fledgling in tree scratching its face, Washington Square Park (NYC)

F1, the fledgling I hadn’t seen in ages, flew to its sibling’s tree (squirrel and Hawk looking at each other):

Two young Red-tailed Hawk fledglings in tree, Washington Square Park (NYC)

F1 looking great:

Young Red-tailed Hawk fledgling in tree mouth open, Washington Square Park (NYC)

Its sibling was more interested in critters in one of the lawns to the north:

Two young Red-tailed Hawk fledglings sitting in tree together, Washington Square Park (NYC)

Young Red-tailed Hawk fledgling flying away from sibling in tree, Washington Square Park (NYC)

F1:

There was a lot of flying about at this point and I lost track of which tree F1 relocated to.

The other fledgling dove down to one of the paths where the main flock of western pigeons hangs out:

Young Red-tailed Hawk fledgling flying past people to land on path, Washington Square Park (NYC)

Young Red-tailed Hawk fledgling flying past people and landing on path, Washington Square Park (NYC)

It startled a man walking past who couldn’t contain his shock.

“WOAH!!!”

Young Red-tailed Hawk fledgling flying past startled man, Washington Square Park (NYC)

Young Red-tailed Hawk fledgling flying away from startled man, Washington Square Park (NYC)

Young Red-tailed Hawk fledgling sitting in park tree, Washington Square Park (NYC)

One of the fledglings flew out of the western trees, flew over the park square, then landed in an eastern tree not far from the fountain:

It then flew back over the square and landed on the park arch:

Young Red-tailed Hawk fledgling sitting on Washington Square Park arch (NYC)

It was looking intently at something happening on the southern edge of the park:

Red-tailed Hawk fledgling sitting on Washington Square Park arch (NYC)

Young Red-tailed Hawk fledgling flying off Washington Square Park arch (NYC)

It flew to the southern area. Bobby then flew from that area and circled over the square:

Adult Red-tailed Hawk flying past NYU building, Washington Square Park (NYC)

Adult Red-tailed Hawk Bobby circling above Washington Square Park (NYC)

I suspect Bobby may have delivered food to that southern area which would help explain why the fledgling was that determined to get there quickly.

Bobby circled north of the park before I lost sight of him and had to leave for the day anyway.

Being that today is the 4th of July, I looked into the archives for a previous July 4th post to share (especially for new visitors to my site). Perhaps you will enjoy this flashback post from July 4th, 2012 when one of that year’s fledglings played with a zebra toy while under Rosie’s (Bobby’s previous mate) supervision. Both siblings played with each other and then mama Rosie got into the spirit and did some playing with a toy herself.


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4 thoughts on “All three fledglings seen; Pigeon dives and arch perch – July 4th, 2018”

  1. I love the “flash backs”…I had forgotten about the apple play worm meal, but the Zebra dance was appreciated again…
    So happy to know and see all 3 fledglings together and doing well.
    It is indeed a Happy 4/th.

    Reply

  2. Wow that man seemed genuinely frightened by the hawk, and has his arm turned in a defensive position. Do the park goers not realize there are Red-tailed hawks that live and breed there? It’s surely one of the great wonders of living in New York, but perhaps not everyone feels that way.

    Reply

    1. We get tons of tourists (and neighbors of several years) walking through the park who have no idea that Hawks have lived there for the past 8 years. Some neighbors have told me they’ve seen a Hawk in the park but didn’t know they were residents.

      The man in the picture was spooked by the huge bird flying past him seemingly out of nowhere but he laughed the encountered off. He seemed genuinely delighted by the experience.

      Reply

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