Today’s post combines pictures I took on July 10th and today. I saw no Hawks at all on July 10th but I’m pretty sure it was because my timing was to blame. I visited Washington Square Park at a notoriously bad time for Hawk-watching but I took my chances anyway since I had no other time to visit that day.
A squirrel’s busy digging was rewarded with tasty buried treasure:
The dead, banded pigeon I’ve photographed a few times in the past had been unearthed and was exposed again. What struck me was seeing two other pigeons resting near it as they usually do on the lawns:
I took some pictures of unconventional bird nest locations near the park. NYC sparrows do a great job of building nests pretty much anywhere.
At the base of a flag pole:
On pigeon spikes underneath a terrace:
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Today’s visit was almost as unlucky as the one on the 10th. I did see a Red-tailed Hawk circle just north of the park then fly west but just missed getting a photo of it. And, of course I didn’t find it again for the rest of my visit.
A few sparrows gathered around some spilt milk(shake):
They drank it right up!
Amazing! I never knew or even suspected that birds would like to drink milk!! Must be an acquired taste, since for sure they aren’t nursed (only mammals, obviously), so is it the sugar content? What a fascinating problem for ornithologists to investigate. And, yes, I know about ‘pigeon milk’, but that’s a concoction of predigested food from the mother’s crop (do father’s secrete this as well?) mixed with a milky secretion – do not think it qualifies as lactic milk in any way.
Roger Paw! You never cease to delight, amaze, instruct, visually show so many fascinating natural things for us – all in the heart of NYC!
You see the pigeons drink water from puddles all the time but this was the first time I saw them drink anything milky. I don’t know anything about what you referred to as pigeon milk but it sounds like a fun topic to research. Thanks, Susan!
Loved, Loved this part of the WSP in the summer heat.
Not a waring action observed, but the daily life of the dear birds, and squirrels doing the ordinary and Life goes on. Hope the young hawks are growing and becoming part of the neighborhood in the park
Thanks Roger_Paw for the voyeur aspects of your camera lens!
Nice to see you back, Jeanne. Hello! There is a LOT of wildlife activity in the park and it’s a lot of fun to learn how they all interact with each other.