On Sunday, she perched on the cellphone transmitter on Avenue A and St Mark's. I've seen her up there several times before, and it's a popular pigeon hangout.
![Dora](https://c6.staticflickr.com/6/5598/25354450429_1e11a4992c_b.jpg)
One of her identifying marks (or non-marks) is her plainly colored legs. Below, you can see her legs are a solid cream color, whereas Christo has brown barring on his legs. It's one feature we use to tell them apart. Dora also has a dark head that is nearly the same color as her wings. Christo's head is a lighter golden brown.
![Dora](https://c5.staticflickr.com/6/5496/30873847452_edf96c6318_b.jpg)
Around noon on Monday, I happened to glimpse Dora relaxing atop one of the Village View buildings at First Avenue and 6th Street. If you look closely, you can see a kestrel perched on the pole on the far right. From this distance, it looks like a tiny round blob. Seconds before, I'd seen the kestrel sneak up behind Dora and slam into her back. She almost fell off the railing.
![Standoff between red-tailed hawk and a kestrel](https://c1.staticflickr.com/6/5619/30977509256_6dc417d2fd_b.jpg)
Moments later, when Dora's head was turned, the kestrel made another aggressive move.
![Dora gets mobbed by a kestrel](https://c4.staticflickr.com/6/5500/31013111675_415fe778f5_b.jpg)
The kestrel took several swipes at the hawk before flying east. In the photo below, the markings are visible enough to tell us the kestrel is female.
![Dora gets mobbed by a kestrel](https://c1.staticflickr.com/6/5444/30977544376_afc5951441_b.jpg)
Presumably fed up with being bullied, Dora took off and went to Tompkins Square where she perched out in the open near the Temperance fountain.
![Dora](https://c1.staticflickr.com/6/5654/30977665896_7e4c07e749_b.jpg)
![Dora](https://c3.staticflickr.com/6/5596/30977666706_fc82e3ed72_b.jpg)
While she sat there watching a worker sweep the path below her, someone pointed out that Christo was nearby eating a pigeon. Dora was apparently waiting for leftovers.
After Christo was done eating, he left the remainder of the meal on a branch for Dora to retrieve. However, I don't think she liked his choice of drop-off location. It was on a very low branch that overhangs the path and some benches, about ten feet off the ground. Christo had no problem eating his lunch there, but I think it was too close to people for Dora to feel comfortable.
She made an attempt to fly down and grab the food...
![Dora](https://c7.staticflickr.com/6/5493/30978025486_57130cd9b7_b.jpg)
...but came up empty-taloned.
![Dora](https://c6.staticflickr.com/6/5809/25377718109_b6ff6bf61c_b.jpg)
She made two more attempts to fly over the branch and grab the pigeon.
![Dora](https://c4.staticflickr.com/6/5673/31013625315_2acc5d257e_b.jpg)
Finally, she caught it and took it to a much higher perch in a nearby tree. You can see the red pigeon foot sticking out from her right talon.
![Dora with a pigeon leg](https://c7.staticflickr.com/6/5611/22835395278_fd64ece54f_b.jpg)
She ate the snack in just a few minutes and seemed a bit restless. Rather than resting and digesting her meal, she hopped from branch to branch, her attention on something south of the park.
![Dora](https://c7.staticflickr.com/6/5746/22835405758_bedecdd43f_b.jpg)
Finally, Dora took off and headed out of the park.
![Dora](https://c7.staticflickr.com/6/5744/30712254470_3be9f4e29e_b.jpg)
I didn't see her again until about 4:45, when the sun went down. She was perched on a Village View building at Avenue A and 5th Street, where she was again being attacked by a kestrel.
![Dora](https://c5.staticflickr.com/6/5651/22835470068_d0033ff966_b.jpg)
This is not the first (or last) time we've seen the hawks harassed by kestrels. It happens quite a lot as both are territorial and kestrels are little firecrackers. Roger Paw caught a hawk-kestrel scuffle in the area in 2014.
More to come...
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