Hunter & the Hunted, Washington Square Park

This hawk was taking a breather in a tree after having dispatched a squirrel below. After a short time it returned to its meal.
In a grim if comical (to humans) routine, two or three squirrels in the tree kept a nervous eye on the hawk and maneuvered to better positions. The squirrel here had been on a branch below the hawk but moved to the trunk and discreetly climbed to the presumably safer branch above. You wonder if they knew they were fairly safe, given that the hawk already had its meal in place. Fortunately for them, hawks don’t bury squirrels the way squirrels bury acorns.
After sitting in the tree for several minutes, the hawk returned to the squirrel. Possibly wary of the attention we were giving it, it eventually grabbed the eviscerated rodent in its talons and flew to the other end of the square.

Author: dgroff