Interesting hawk activity in Tompkins Square

An interesting hawk drama played out Tuesday evening in Tompkins Square Park.

It began when I saw one red-tailed hawk fly into a tree above my head. A half second later, Amelia flew by clutching a pigeon. She landed in a tree about 50 feet away from the first hawk. 

Amelia took the pigeon to another tree where she quickly ate it, then quietly perched on a branch.

 

I went back to the first hawk, assuming it would be her mate, Charlie, but it turned out to be a juvenile.

 

As Amelia seemed to be cool with this young hawk close by, I wondered if it could be one of her offspring from this last season.

I really have no way of confirming the identity of any of the fledglings, and it's a bit late in the year for any of them to still be hanging around, so I was intrigued.

This young hawk seemed pretty comfortable in this environment, and spent about a half hour watching squirrels and pigeons on the ground.

Eventually, the young hawk dove after some pigeons, but missed and ended up in a tree about 100 feet further away.

From its new perch, the young hawk studied the prey situation. The sun had just set, and the rats were emerging from their burrows.

In a flash, the young hawk dove down and caught a small rat in the garden area near the tree where I first saw it perched.

All seemed well until I heard the deep hoarse red-tailed hawk scream of Amelia. She did not sound happy, and flew into the branches directly above the young hawk. The juvenile looked straight up at her and remained absolutely frozen for 15-20 minutes. Amelia let out 4-5 more screams and the juvenile did not take its eyes off her. I've never seen a standoff go on for so long.

It looked to me like Amelia was okay having this youngster around until it caught food in her territory. The young hawk dared not move, or she would likely chase it. Then again, Amelia did not want to come any lower - she does not come to the ground like Charlie (and Christo before him) will do. I saw her catch a rat on the ground in the park exactly once, and that was soon after her arrival in 2018. She does the majority of her hunting by grabbing pigeons off rooftops.

 

Anyway, Amelia tried her best to scold the juvenile and intimidate it into leaving, but it held its ground and didn't move. Eventually, Amelia flew to a tree about 100 feet away and screamed at it from there. At some point, the young hawk felt safe enough to start eating. It stayed on the ground as I think if it took its food to a tree, Amelia would have come after it. 

 

I expected Charlie to show up, but I never saw him, so I guess he was busy. As it became dark, the young hawk took off to the other side of the park, presumably to roost for the night.