1/6, Juvie on the Hunt, and the Miss

I was in Central Park both days this past weekend but only Saturday was successful for hawkwatching. Saturday was of course the ridiculously warm day, and my first reaction on walking into the park at West 100th St. was that it was a freaking zoo. And that was at the north end of the park. Lord knows what it was like down on the lower loop.

Anyway, into the park a bit after 2:30. Headed toward the Sparrow Rocks, but split off to take the tunnel under the service road and then headed up the trails to the North Woods. Wandered around there for a bit and then crossed the road, dodging cyclists and joggers, to the Great Hill. Didn't seem like much there and began to make an exit. And then pretty much stayed in the same spot for 40 minutes because this girl was on the hunt.

First sighting of this juvenile red-tailed hawk came just after 3:00 from the park path, within 25-30 feet of the busy loop road. She was in the process of diving off a branch after a squirrel. She missed and then demonstrated that hawks are slower runners than squirrels, as she took four or five futile steps before giving up.

Then she hopped back up to the low branch in the above pic, stared at another squirrel on a high branch, went after him and missed. She looked around a minute, then swooped to a branch on the other side of the path, missing me and a couple pedestrians by about six or seven feet, and into the little section of woods immediately adjacent to the park map at the top of the road over the Great Hill.

Right then another hawk soared overhead, way, way up. Crummy photos do suggest at a red tail, but after a circle or two, that hawk disappeared off towards Harlem Meer and the rest of the day's hawkwatching remained this juvenile going after squirrels.

Unlike the hawk seen last Tuesday, this one mostly stayed low and didn't seem at all bothered that I and a hundred park users were in the area. Just a glare now and again...

...while she looked around for food.

Saturday was of course beautifully sunny, and I was up-sun from the juvie often enough that lighting was usually not a problem when taking pix.

After about 20-25 minutes, she made her first try after a squirrel outside the little copse, shooting across the road toward the rocky summit of the North Woods. She was low enough that even the usually oblivious joggers and cyclists took note. But alas, no squirrel.

Then back across the road to the trees west of the map. Look around some more.

And make another swoop.

But alas, lunch got away again. And even worse, a bunch of blue jays have begun to gather and they've decided that this copse is theirs. Go away, hawk. She tolerated the playground taunting for a few minutes. Then one last disgruntled look...

Then she tried hiding in the trees just to the north. Apparently didn't like that shady area and just after 3:40 took off for good. Flying along the loop road and then disappearing around the curve toward the Loch.

That made the fourth, possibly fifth time I watched a juvenile in the Great Hill-North Woods in the past two weeks. It was almost beginning to seem like clockwork that she'd be in the area in the 3:00 timeframe. But perhaps Saturday's disappointing hunting made her change the agenda in her daybook. I was back in the area on Sunday, but she wasn't. Oh, well, I suppose I need to do a better job of figuring out where Tristan or Isolde have been hiding of late.