I was out of town for New Year’s enjoying lovely forests:
It was great to have the break from the city but it was odd to see and hear no wildlife in the woods except for a couple of passing Chickadees.
I grew up in the country but had forgotten how seemingly empty the woods can be in winter.
It was such a contrast to the dense amount of wildlife in Washington Square Park. The park is so full of different birds, squirrels, and raptors any day of any season.
One of the two Black-Capped Chickadees:
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I was on my way to Washington Square Park today when I looked north toward Cooper Square and saw the pigeons flying nervously and perching together on the art school building:
Their behavior made me think there might be a Hawk around (Bobby has hunted in the area several times in the past) so I studied the scene and saw a bird that looked a bit bigger than a pigeon on the tower in the distance:
I got closer and saw that it was Bobby!
The orange star below illustrates Bobby’s location (Washington Square Park is on the left):
Bobby was sitting atop 51 Astor Place. One of the 2015 fledglings died after crashing into this building that summer.
The building is highly reflective so the fatal strike was probably impossible to avoid:
The Cooper Square pigeons would panic then gather close together atop the park monument:
They would act like they were being pursued by a hunter but I didn’t see what was spooking them.
Stretch and poop:
Bobby jumped up and flew off his perch 35 minutes after I first spotted him:
He flew over the Astor Place square then landed on 770 Broadway, also known as the Wanamaker Building:
He landed on the northeast corner:
I would watch Bobby but kept getting distracted by a discoloration on the southeast corner top:
I zoomed in and realized it was Sadie!
So here we had both Washington Square Park Hawks hanging out together at Astor Place. It was pretty exciting. I was visiting when the Hawks are usually away from Washington Square. I guess I’ll have to check Astor Place more often if I can’t find the Hawks at home.
Bobby flew past Sadie 9 minutes after he had landed on the building:
He circled over Broadway, one street over to the west:
Bobby disappeared. Sadie relaxed some more:
She dove off her perch 12 minutes after Bobby jumped off his perch:
I lost sight of her as she continued due west. I checked but neither Hawk had gone to Washington Square Park so I wrapped up my outing.
Bobbie and Rosie show their muscular chests in the spring from the building in flight.
Thank you for the spectacular shots,Roger_Paw ,not forgetting the lovely Black Capped Chickadee ,serene in his perch.
How many miles from the WSP is 51 Astor Place, RP?
Do you suppose our Hawk family has used this place before to hang out?
51 Astor is a few blocks from Washington Square Park. It’s about a four or five minute walk away but for the Hawks it would take 4 or 5 seconds for them to fly between areas.
Yup, Bobby looked awful relaxed up there so he’s probably perched there many times in the past. I have sometimes searched for the Hawks in Astor Place before when I couldn’t find the Hawks at home. There’s a chance he was sitting right there without my noticing!
Lovely that our hawks find such elegant architecture to utilize. True urban avians. Shouldn’t they be doing nestorations now, however? What’s the status of the bldg. work? Scaffolding gone?
They’re pretty expert at finding the perfect nooks to tuck into and survey from! They’ll start refortifying the nest in the coming weeks. They’ll then start mating with frequency in February. There hasn’t been scaffolding near the nest in several weeks so that’s been great!