Today’s visit to Washington Square Park was one of those effortless ones where you find a Red-tailed Hawk right away and get to enjoy watching it relax in a tree for a few hours.
I heard a distant Blue Jay yelling up a storm as soon as I entered the park so I followed its calls and cries. The Jays almost only sound like that if there is a raptor in the trees. The Jay led me right to Bobby:
He was enjoying a deep preen even though the Jay was flying around him and dive-bombing him on occasion.
Bobby would look for prey in the lawn below him:
The complaining Jay:
The Jay moved on and Bobby got to relax a little better:
Something in the distance made him alert but I didn’t see what he was looking at:
It was pretty overcast today which is why the images are especially dark.
Back to preening:
Some birds were on one of the Hawk perches across the park:
Stretch (notice some fluffy Hawk feathers stuck on the twig above him):
Sorry buddy, I don’t have any treats for you:
Crossed talons:
All seemed well and Bobby appeared to be in no urgency to hunt or move on so I left the park:
Your last 3 pics seem to tell of your walking away and the eventual goodbye.
Quite poetic…
All in all ,a lazy relaxed day for our Bobby
The news tells of a coastal storm approaching the east coast
we want our favorite hawks and their photographer to be safe.
Indeed! I would take a parting shot, walk away, then have to stop to look at him one more time. Because it’s not easy to tear yourself away from such a gorgeous bird!
Thanks for the heads-up on this storm. I will have to check our forecast now!
What beautiful pictures of Bobby!
Thanks, Dina! His handsomeness makes it easy. 🙂
I just got in after seeing and hearing a bluejay making a storm of noise on West 80th Street. The street is filled with trees and today it was overcast so for a time it was hard to spot him, but I did, and there he was caw-caw-cawing like a crow!! Years ago I was feeding birds at my window and one day a bluejay brought her three precious baby bluejays right to the window. It was hot and they looked worn out, but I will never forget how much that mother bluejay trusted me to take care of her young ones.
Wow! I love it when Jays mimic other birds. I’ve heard them mimic the Hawks but never a crow. How cool. I love the story of your mother Blue Jay. It must have felt so nice to be trusted by such vulnerable creatures.
Roger_Paw, I kept looking for a crow, and when I finally looked up and saw the bluejay above me making that incredible racket I felt kind of foolish but charmed. That bluejay completely tricked me. For some reason I was the only person responding to the noise above us. Maybe other people just accepted that it was a crow. The bluejay had the last laugh for sure. He was totally convincing!! Thank you for citing the bluejay. I have a wonderful memory of those baby bluejays at my window.