Red-tailed and Cooper’s Hawks in action – February 21st, 2019

A snowman was still standing tall among the melting Washington Square Park snow:

I spotted a Cooper’s Hawk atop a water tower outside the western side of the park:

I watched it relax and preen for 4 minutes before it flew further west:

It was only a couple of minutes later when I spotted who I later identified as Sadie Hawk land atop the Con Edison tower (located outside Union Square Park):

Freshly-landed on top:

A Cooper’s Hawk circled above the park a few minutes later. I couldn’t tell you if it was the same Hawk that was on the water tower. But I am quite sure it was the same Cooper’s Hawk that has visited the park several times in the past as determined by the feather gap in its left wing:

The last time I saw this Hawk in Washington Square was on February 14th.

The Cooper’s Hawk circled then dove toward the park pigeons but did not catch one.

The Cooper’s Hawk chased pigeons out of the park while heading south.

Sadie looked rested so I headed over to the tower to get a closer look.

Here is a map I like to use to show the location of the Con Ed tower (the orange star) in relation to Union Square and Washington Square Park:

***

I saw out of the corner of my eye what looked like another Hawk fly past her perch. She jumped off her perch and followed that Hawk. It was probably Bobby but I didn’t get a good look at him. All told, Sadie had been on the tower for 42 minutes.

I was at the north end of Union Square Park when I saw a Red-tailed Hawk circle west of the park (and above 5th Avenue) 5 minutes later.

You can see the tiny dot that is the Hawk in the patch of blue sky to the left of the center building:

I took another picture of the Con Ed tower a few minutes later to see if a Hawk was up there again but couldn’t tell if there was one thanks to the lighting. I looked at the photo again when I got home and wouldn’t you know, yup, there was a Hawk!

You can just see its head peeking between the decorative leaves:

Blue Jays in the park trees screamed repeatedly so I went to investigate what they were going on about.

It took several minutes of searching but I finally found the cause of their distress; A Cooper’s Hawk in one of the eastern trees:

I never saw it fly so I don’t know if it was the same Cooper’s Hawk I had seen in Washington Square Park earlier.

I watched the fellah relax and preen for around 25 minutes:

A good scratch:

I returned to Washington Square Park but neither of the resident Red-tailed Hawks were back ‘home’ so I left for the day.