There were a couple of notable non-Hawk birds I saw in Washington Square Park today. One was a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker and the other was a Brown Creeper. They both flew from tree to tree and feasted on insects.
Mama Sadie Hawk was out of the nest and on a jaunt when I saw her. She hopscotched on a couple of perches before returning to her eggs.
The Yellow-bellied Sapsucker:
The pigeons helped me locate Sadie today. A flock of them flew like mad away from the southeast corner of the park. I looked up to see Sadie sitting on one of the Hawks’ favorite southeast flag poles:
She flew off within seconds:
I just realized that I have never seen a flag affixed to that pole in the nine years I’ve been following the Hawks.
Sadie on one of the One Fifth Avenue ledges:
This building sits outside the north side of the park.
We had strong wind gusts today but Sadie expertly navigated through them.
Returning to the nest after her break:
Sadie settled down on the eggs so I walked around the park a little more and came across a Brown Creeper climbing all over a tree and eating insects:
You can learn more about Brown Creepers and hear audio of their song in this handy article.
I love the information The Cornell Lab supplied, they are always so reliable for bird identification. Thanks so much for posting! I’m including this quote from the site for other readers because it’s so apt.
“The brown creeper, as he hitches along the bole of a tree, looks like a fragment of detached bark that is defying the law of gravitation by moving upward over the trunk, and as he flies off to another tree he resembles a little dry leaf blown about by the wind.”
It was so cool the way the Brown Creeper was able to walk upside down on the undersides of the branches. I hardly ever see them. Thanks for pointing out that great quote!