Fledglings in trees, male Hawk perches next to fledgling – June 11th, 2019

One of the fledglings was high up in one of the northwestern park trees when I arrived in Washington Square Park today. I think this bird was F2 (the second Hawk to fledge). I had last seen F2 in a tree in the western side of the park yesterday (in a tree a little further south of today’s tree). So if it was F2, she is a strong flyer in order to make such a journey.

Quite relaxed and curiously looking around:

She did cry a few “feed me” cries. Mama Sadie Hawk was sitting high up on a building perch north of the park at the time.

I left the fledgling after 15 minutes to search for the other two fledglings at the eastern side of the park.

I took a photo of the gap that F3 (the third fledgling) was trapped in and rescued from yesterday:

I could not see F1 or F3 on any of the east side building tops so I returned to the west side fledgling an hour later:

I had originally only seen Sadie on the One Fifth Avenue perch but later saw the new adult male Hawk sitting next to her:

He left her side 20 minutes later. He perched on a different spot around the corner of the building.

He then circled above the eastern side of the park. He started to circle a little low so I wondered if he was looking for Sadie’s two fledglings who were last seen on those eastern building tops.

He landed on the building that overlooks the fledglings’ eastern buildings (NYU’s Silver Center).

He did look down in their direction:

The male then saw something to the west and started screaming. I could not see what he was focused on.

The Hawk moved to a lower section of the roof.

Looking down in the direction of the fledglings’ buildings again:

He then dove off the building and into the eastern trees:

He moved from one tree to another.

He was looking intently down at something at one point. I first thought he might be scanning for prey in the tall grass below him. He dove down but not to the ground but to a low branch in a small tree right outside the park:

I then saw that he was sitting right next to one of the fledglings!

The adult male Hawk on the left, the fledgling on the right:

The male had dropped down so fast, I did not see if he made contact with the youngster. The male was sitting in a tense pose but did not attack the fledgling. The fledgling began to cry. The cry was the typical “feed me” cry so make of that what you will.

What I did find fascinating was that the male did not fly directly to the fledgling head-on but hopscotched in trees behind the young Hawk’s back. The male then dove to the fledgling’s tree while the fledgling had his back turned to him.

As you can see in the picture below, the male was in an aggressive, hunched position. I had seen Bobby, Sadie’s previous mate, in that hunched position many times in the past when he was running a stranger Hawk out of his territory. But I did not see this male Hawk attack the baby so maybe he is becoming more tolerant of Sadie’s youngsters?

The male flew off the tree after a minute.

He flew very low above the street as you can see by comparing him to the man on the sidewalk:

This fledgling was in a small tree across the street from Pless. I do not think it was F1 because that first fledgling is much more experienced with flying and has been witnessed keeping to the building tops.

It was extremely windy today (with gusts up to nearly 20mph) and the fledgling was fighting to keep hold of the thin branches.

The fledgling then leapt/flew over the sidewalk and into a proper park tree.

It then did a great job of making its way up higher up the branches just like F2 did on Sunday.

The fledgling then settled down high in the tree and preened in the sunshine. It would cry its “feed me” cry on and off.

I stayed with this fledgling for an hour before leaving for the day.

This evening I got a Hawk update from a fellow Hawk-watcher that she saw one of the fledglings (I assume F1?) sitting high up in an NYU building’s window. That building sits outside the southeast corner of the park.

Sadie brought food to the fledgling in that window. The male Hawk appeared and dive-bombed the little Hawk. Sadie then intervened and protected her youngster from the male. She then beak-fed the Hawk like she would when it was but a baby (even though the fledgling can eat food on its own). Update: I was corrected about this part. The fledgling was not beak-fed but ate on its own. Sadie then brought the remaining part of the pigeon toward the eastern side buildings.