Uptown Hawk rendezvous – January 7th, 2020

I was en route and east of Washington Square Park when a Red-tailed Hawk terrified a flock of pigeons as it glided low above the skyline.

The Hawk was in silhouette so I wasn’t able to identify whether it was one of the Tompkins Square Hawks, a Washington Square Hawk, or perhaps the Hawk I saw in the park yesterday.

I only saw it for those couple of seconds and it was long gone by the time I retrieved my camera from my bag. I have noted that particular pigeon flock in the past so I will keep an eye out for raptors in that area for next time.

The raptors in and around Washington Square Park appeared to have a routine day; a Cooper’s Hawk circled above the pigeons that collect on the arch and the resident Red-tailed Hawks Sadie and Juno met up for a rendezvous uptown. ‘Routine’ is good. Routine means all is well.

Unfortunately, the beautiful stranger Hawk from yesterday was nowhere to be found in the park.

The Cooper’s Hawk that frightened the arch pigeons:

It circled several times before it rose higher and disappeared flying westward.

One of the Washington Square Park Hawks on a roof two blocks north of the park:

I could not tell which Hawk this was but it looked more like Juno than Sadie.

It perched for about 20 minutes before taking off:

Flying near the arch pigeons:

The Hawk circled a few times then headed directly toward the Con Ed building:

Its mate followed:

Here is where this tower sits in relation to Washington Square Park (their park at the bottom of the image):

One of the Hawks had left the tower by the time I got closer.

The remaining Hawk on the tower top:

UPDATE: I just received an email from the folks that handle federal bird band reports. As a reminder, I had sent them the number seen on the visiting Hawk’s leg band.

Apparently the bander hasn’t entered the Hawk’s bio and band info into the org’s system yet. The bander was sent a reminder to please do so now that there has been a reported band recovery.

It could take a while for the bander to provide the info but if they do, I’ll receive a Certificate of Appreciation for reporting the sighting. Exciting stuff!