Urban Hawks

Tonight, I ended up leaving the office late and was worried I would miss any action in Washington Square.  Luckily, the hawks were very active once I arrived.

Bobby appeared soon after I arrived and did a wide survey of the park before landing on the cross.  He then went to the nest and relieved Rosie.

She did some exploring and then settled down to hunting.  She caught a rat, eat it, and returned to the nest.

Bobby then hunted in the same place Rosie had hunted and choose the same tree to eat the rodent.   Both locations can be seen from the nest.  After Bobby finished eating, it was off to roost.

Rosie continue to hunt even though she’s brooding. Tonight she got a rat.  The pictures are Rosie on nest, then Bobby, then Rosie, then Bobby.

I watched the hawks in Washington Square this afternoon before it started raining.   At first it was quiet.  Then Bobby appeared, and eventually relieved Rosie on the nest.  She then went off exploring the park, then the buildings around the park, then went up north and finally returned to the nest.

For a brief period, both hawks were off the nest and on the cross but this only lasted a minute.

It was a gray day to be in the park.  Very light rain on and off.

My afternoon started of nicely with the spotting of a Brown Creeper.  A nice little bird that I usually see in the winter in Central Park.  It was nice to add it to my Washington Square bird list.

Rosie was active mid-afternoon.  She was hunting pigeons and squirrels but it was hard to tell if she was just getting exercise or was really hungry.  She did lots of low hunting runs on the newly fenced off lawns which have just been reseeded.  It wasn’t the patient hunting that is successful for Red-tailed Hawks, but youthful “go after anything that moves” type of hunting you see with juvenile birds.

After an exchange it was Bobby’s turn to be active.  He caught a pigeon a top an NYU building south of the church cross.