Young Hawk cavorts with squirrels – December 24th, 2019

There was lots of critter activity in Washington Square Park today. A juvenile Red-tailed Hawk perched on a few park trees and cavorted with squirrels before settling down for a rest.

A squirrel was eating a peanut while expertly balanced on a fence:

The squirrel finished eating most of the peanut then let the rest of it drop to the ground. The squirrel bounded away. A pigeon and sparrow that had obviously been waiting nearby hurried over to the peanut and had their own nibbles of the leftovers.

An adult Red-tailed Hawk was on the distant Con Edison tower but I opted to search around the park for the other one (or a Cooper’s Hawk if one was around).

I wasn’t finding any raptors in the park so I searched the blocks north and west of the park for special birds but found none. I looked west of the park in case the juvenile Hawk I saw on the 18th was back over there.

I did not see it but! there was now a juvenile Red-tailed Hawk in a western tree when I returned to the park grounds.

Pigeons would perch in its tree, notice it, then scram away from it:

I wondered if this was the same juvenile from a few days ago but there was no way to really tell although the one on the 18th looked like it had thicker and darker chest markings.

Leg kicked out in relaxation:

The youngster flew to a new tree 45 minutes after I first spotted it:

The next several minutes were fun. The Hawk would rush squirrels in its tree or fly over to a new tree to interact with a different one. Squirrels behaved similarly; either rushing over to the Hawk as it sat relaxed or sneaking up and peeking at it from around a trunk.

Running to a squirrel on the same branch:

Squirrel tail poking out on the right:

One of the resident adult Hawks circled over the pigeons that were perched on the arch before it continued flying northward.

The young Hawk watched its flight:

The adult Hawk perched on a regular building perch a couple of blocks north of the park. It returned to the park a few minutes later. A Peregrine Falcon flew with it but it all happened so fast, I couldn’t tell who was chasing who. Both birds flew west of the park before disappearing.

The Peregrine:

The young Red-tailed Hawk continued its antics.

Hello:

About to dive to a new branch:

More squirrel-rushing and dodging:

The youngster then descended to the lawn below the trees:

It would walk, hop, and kick around not 15 feet away from me and others who noticed it.

Searching through the grass:

Hopping up then down again:

It left the grass after 7 minutes then hopscotched between a few more trees:

Back full circle, sitting in the first tree I saw it in:

I hung out with this youngster for nearly two hours before leaving for the day.