Five raptor day in Washington Square – January 9th, 2019

I counted five different raptors during my visit to Washington Square Park: Three Red-tailed Hawks, one Cooper’s Hawk, and a Peregrin Falcon. These birds were seen at various times during my two hour outing.

A young Red-tailed Hawk scared up pigeons as it flew from south to north over the park square:

Resident male Hawk Bobby appeared then quickly disappeared (this was the only time I saw him today):

A Cooper’s Hawk actively dove into pigeons but didn’t catch one.

Flying into the flock at the park arch:

Heading to a northwestern tree to rest:

Flying over the square to the eastern trees:

Diving back toward the western trees:

I was following the Cooper’s Hawk to the western side of the park when I happened to see Sadie perched on One Fifth. The Cooper’s Hawk would now have to wait!

The distance between Sadie and a man working on the facade:

She flew south from the park:

She returned a few minutes later:

She was seated on the building across the street from her and Bobby’s nest.

Here you can see her in the upper right hand corner of the picture, the nest in the window on the extreme left:

She flew around a bit before landing on one of the NYU flag poles:

She flew south away from the park again.

The Cooper’s Hawk took to the sky, chased some pigeons, then landed in the tree I was standing next to:

I am now certain that this is the same Cooper’s Hawk I saw in the park on November 11th (they both have the same broken wing tip in their left wing) but probably not the same Cooper’s Hawk(s) I’ve seen in the park since then. So I guess this is not a migrating Cooper’s Hawk but one that is sticking around in the neighborhood this winter.

It watched something fly above us:

I spun around to see that it was Sadie who the Cooper’s Hawk had been watching.

She flew above us then landed on the southwestern corner building:

A Peregrine Falcon circled southwest of her but didn’t make contact with her (she is seated in the upper right hand corner):

The Cooper’s Hawk would look back at Sadie every once in a while but they did not interact.

The Cooper’s took off and headed to the eastern trees again:

It was gusty today and Sadie slipped around on her perch a few times (she didn’t seem to have a good grip on the metal gutter):

She eventually flew off the building, circled above the park, then landed on One Fifth one last time before I left the park:

I was leaving the park for good when I happened to notice a little hump in the eastern trees across the street from me. It was the Cooper’s Hawk!

That was a nice little sighting to have as I exited.