Hawk visits Washington Square, eats a rat – January 6th, 2020

We had a special visitor in Washington Square Park today; an adult Red-tailed Hawk. What made this Hawk special was that it had a federal bird band on its right leg.

I managed to figure out the band numbers so I’ll contact Fish & Wildlife and hopefully find out more about this beautiful bird. Here is where you too can send in band sightings. This page shows examples of federal bands and color markers.

A fellow Hawk-watcher followed a visiting adult Hawk around the park yesterday too and from their description it sounds like they were observing the same bird so kudos to them for first spotting it. I think the Hawk is a male so I’ll refer to it as a he in this post.

I first spotted the Hawk resting in a western tree:

The Hawk flew to a tree hole squirrel nest. He mantled over the hole, claiming it:

He would dig into the hole, trying to grab a squirrel that was inside. He even stuck his head in the hole a few times:

This went on for 8 minutes. The Hawk was unsuccessful so he went to another tree to scan prey from.

Scrunch and spring:

He hopscotched around a few trees on the west side then flew over to the east side trees.

Resting leg kick:

He dove toward prey but missed his target and moved on:

He landed on another squirrel nest!

This Hawk was really focused on squirrels. It was a bit surprising because I have gotten so used to the resident Washington Square Park Hawks focus more on pigeons and rodents before going after squirrels.

A squirrel rushed down toward the Hawk, making the bird jump from the nest to the branch. The squirrel continued on its way down the tree:

The Hawk flew away and into the western trees again. He soon dove straight to a squirrel in a tree.

The squirrel escaped the Hawk’s charges:

I don’t know how serious the Hawk was to catch this squirrel though. At times it looked like the Hawk was being more bullying than threatening.

Diving past the squirrel:

The Hawk straightened out and flew to a new tree.

A dog that was being walked spotted the Hawk and froze, intently watching the bird fly by and then land. The dog then led its owner close to the tree, never letting its gaze waver from the Hawk. It was hilarious! The dog’s owner said the dog is obsessed with squirrels and probably thought the Hawk was a flying squirrel. I don’t doubt it!

The Hawk in yet a new tree:

The Hawk dove toward prey on a distant lawn but missed:

The Hawk walked close to the park path:

It was pretty chilly out and there weren’t many people in the park so the Hawk was in no danger by being so close to the path.

He flew into another tree, scanned the same lawn, then made another hunting attempt:

Rat trying to jump away:

The Hawk was too quick and powerful. He caught the rat after some thrashing against/through the fencing.

Resting with his catch:

Bringing the rat to a tree:

The Hawk spent a little over 10 minutes eating the rat:

Squirrels were walking around the tree hole the Hawk had been digging into earlier:

Swallowing the rat tail:

Wiping his beak clean on the tree:

Settling down to digest:

I had followed this Hawk around for two hours. There were times when I was tempted to leave because it would get pretty cold but it was obvious the Hawk was hungry and in the middle of hunting so what could I do? I had to stay and find out if he caught a meal!

I spotted Sadie on one of her favorite roof tops located a couple of blocks north of the park:

She flew off the building and flew toward the park but disappeared while en route (probably landing on a building just north of the park). I waited around a little while longer to see if she would enter the park and perhaps chase the visitor away from her territory but she stayed away so I left.