[Video] Hawks visit the nest, surprise Cooper’s Hawks on a rooftop – January 27th, 2019

I checked on the Hawk cam around 9:20 this morning and saw both Hawks Bobby and Sadie tidying their nest. I managed to make a quick recording of Sadie fortifying the nest before she flew out of it:

I headed over to the park to check on the Hawks a few hours later.

I was walking to the park from the east when a bird sitting in a rooftop tree caught my eye. It looked bigger than a pigeon but smaller than a Red-tailed Hawk:

It was a Cooper’s Hawk!

I had only been watching for a few seconds when a second Cooper’s Hawk approached it then veered away.

The Cooper’s Hawk that had been in the tree flew westward (the general direction of the park):

All this action took place within two minutes. It was so fun to see all this unexpected action. I will have to check that cluster of trees every time I walk past it now.

The building is at 417 Lafayette Street and is located a few blocks east of the park.

A wider view of the trees from the street:

Here is a satellite view of this rooftop garden:

The yellow arrow in the picture below points out the building. Washington Square Park is four blocks to the west:

I wandered around Washington Square Park for a little over 10 minutes before I saw Bobby fly to the top of one of the buildings lining the western side of the park:

He spent his time relaxing and generally looking around.

He flew off 19 minutes later:

He circled above the park, swooped around a couple of apartment buildings then flew away north on 5th Avenue:

I looked for him north of the park but didn’t find him. I was returning to the park when I saw either him or Sadie zooming toward the park before continuing south of the park. Although there wasn’t much ‘action’, today’s outing was made especially fun because you never know where and when you’ll happen upon some raptors.