New York University has returned the camera to the Washington Square Park nest on the Bobst Library. Thank you to those who lobbied for the camera to be returned, as well has the President’s and Public Relations offices of NYU. The link on Ustream is here.
The nest is very quiet now, but I’m looking forward to watching the feed in the spring. The new cameras (a main one and a backup) are wonderful.
I had a quiet afternoon with one of the adult Red-tailed Hawks in Washington Square Park this afternoon. The hawk spent at least an hour on top of 1 Fifth Avenue before coming down to hunt in the rain in the NW corner of the park. It caught a small rodent, and looked to be on the lookout for a second snack before going to roost. It started raining too hard for me to see how things turned out.
Mid-August can be a frustrating time to watch hawks. Juveniles are becoming harder to find as they expand their range, and for some precocious ones, begun to migrate. So, for the last week I’ve had to be content to find some adult hawks in both Washington and Tompkins Square Parks.
For about two hours the Washington Square Park fledgling perched on two locations, the Furman Hall roof and the cross of Judson Memorial Church. He briefly circled the park but returned to the cross. Not much excitement, but it was nice to watch him.
One Friday afternoon, I caught up with the Washington Square Park fledgling in a tree about 50 yards west of the fountain. While I was there he spent at least 45 minutes preening and looking at the pigeons near his perch. He looked in no rush to move on the hot and humid afternoon, so I took off for Tompkins Square Park.
The Washington Square Park Fledgling was having lots of fun this evening. I found it on top of 2 Fifth Avenue where it played in the wind realizing that if it put its wings out, it would have lift off. He then went down into the park chasing a group of pigeons and ending up on the Judson Church roof. That’s a great deal of flying.
Later, he made some a few trips around the east side of the park, and even went over to the roofs of Washington Square North.
From the pictures, you can see his primary and secondary feathers that hadn’t grown in when he fledged look good now. The only feathers with issues are two tail feathers. It’s nice to see him looking less scruffy.
