A young upstart in Washington Square Park is annoying the old guard.
It's a classic Greenwich Village story. Only this time, the players are hawks.
Bruce Yolton runs the Urban Hawks blog, and last week noticed a newcomer on the scene. He wrote that he has "no idea" who the "juvenile red-tailed hawk" is, but after speculating if it was this year's fledgling returned to the park, decided it's more likely "a migrant on its way south."
The male adult hawk who frequents the park, named "Bobby" by Yolton, has apparently not taken well to the new visitor, attacking and chasing him around until becoming distracted by nearby rodents and squirrels.
Yolton's videos make for interesting nature documentaries, with the soundtrack of Washington Square Park's varied musicians and the rumblings of city life below the wild birds. The video above has the added bonus of an introductory narration by a tiny-voiced child who greets the new young bird — at that moment picking at the carcass of a dead rodent — with a delighted, "Heyyyyy, eagle!"
Check out Yolton's blog for more videos and up-close shots of the birds perched in trees and on historic Greenwich Village buildings and the Washington Square arch.
