Pale Male

Pale Male (hatched 1990) is a well known New York City Red-tailed Hawk who has made his home since the early 1990s near Central Park. Birdwatcher and author Marie Winn gave him his name because of the unusually light coloring of his head. He is one of the first Red-tailed Hawks known to have nested on a building rather than in a tree and is famous for establishing a dynasty of urban-dwelling Red-tailed Hawks. Each spring birders set up telescopes at the Model Boat Pond to observe his nest and chicks at 927 Fifth Avenue.

Chronology

When he arrived in Central Park in 1991, as a first-year immature hawk, Pale Male tried to nest in a tree, but he was driven off by crows. He later roosted on a building on Fifth Avenue across the street from the park. In early 1992, he found a mate, dubbed First Love. First Love was injured later that year and removed to the Raptor Trust in New Jersey. During her absence, Pale Male took another mate, called Chocolate by birdwatchers. After several unsuccessful spring nesting attempts, Pale Male and a mate, possibly Chocolate, hatched 3 eyasses in 1995. The eyasses survived to young adulthood and took up residence in Central Park. Chocolate died later that year from injuries from a collison with a car on the New Jersey turnpike.

First Love returned to Central Park after being banded and released from the Raptor Trust. She and Pale Male reunited and raised several eyases. People in the park waited months to see the eyasses grow and then take their first flights. Pale Male was a good father, bringing food to his offspring about five times each day. In 1997, First Love died after eating a poisoned pigeon in Central Park.

Pale Male's mate from 1998 to 2001 was a hawk known as Blue. The pair were observed to hatch about 11 eyasses in that period. Blue disappeared about the time of the September 11 terrorist attack in 2001.

In early 2002, Pale Male was first observed with a new mate, Lola. They raised 7 eyasses between 2002 and 2004, building a nest on ornamental stonework above a top-story window on a residential housing cooperative at 927 Fifth Avenue (at East 74th Street) on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. Lola disappeared in December 2010 and is presumed dead.

A new mate appeared in early January 2011. This new hawk, with the moniker "Ginger," because of her dark feathers on her neck and chin, is only in her second year. She is a young adult, with still-yellow irises, indicating her exact age. This will be ber first nesting attempt, in the winter and spring of 2011 using the existing nest. As in previous years with earlier females, Ginger should lay her first egg sometime in the last two weeks of March, with hatching (it is hoped) about a month later. Up to three eggs may be produced, although first-time nesting Red-tailed Hawks often lay only one or two eggs.

Nest controversy

In December 2004, the hawks' nest and the anti-pigeon spikes that had long anchored it were removed by the board of the co-op. The removal caused an international outcry and a series of impassioned protests organized by New York City Audubon Society and the Central Park birding community. Mary Tyler Moore, a resident of the building, also participated in the protests. On December 14, 2004, the building, various city agencies, and the Audubon Society, coordinated by the Audubon Society, came to an agreement to replace the spikes and to install a new "cradle" for the nest. On the same day, Lincoln Karim, one of the leading protesters, was arrested for allegedly harassing the family of Richard Cohen, including his wife, CNN news anchor Paula Zahn. These charges were subsequently dismissed. By December 28, 2004, the scaffolding had been removed and the hawks started bringing twigs to the nest site.

However, eggs laid by Lola in March 2005 did not hatch, and in fact Pale Male and Lola have not hatched any new eyasses since the disturbance of their original nest. A panel of experts assembled by the Audubon Society reviewed the photos taken of the interior of the nest on January 4, 2008, and recommended the removal of stainless steel spikes seen protruding through the bowl of the nest. The spikes impede the rolling of the eggs by the female during incubation. The Audubon Society obtained the support and approvals of municipal agencies and property owners to have the 92 spikes removed from the cradle supporting the nest.

Although news reports in early summer 2006 suggested that Pale Male and Lola had given up on their Fifth Avenue nest in favor of a location on the Beresford apartments across the park on Central Park West, this was not the case. The hawks regularly perched on the Beresford and may have roosted there at night, but they continued to return to the Fifth Avenue location during nesting season.

Other red-tailed hawks in and around Central Park

At the south end of the park, a hawk couple dubbed Pale Male Junior (or just Junior) and Charlotte nested on the Trump Park hotel on Central Park South in 2005 and successfully raised two eyasses. In 2007, they moved their nest to a building on Seventh Avenue at 57th Street (two blocks south of the park) and raised one eyass. Junior and Charlotte may often be found in the vicinity of the Time Warner Center on Columbus Circle, at the southwest corner of the park. Junior's first attempt at nesting on Trump Park was in March 2002. This was with a different female and all attempts at the site failed until his success in 2005.

A hawk couple known as Tristan and Isolde claimed Central Park's Great Hill and North Wood as their territory, but their nest was located about four blocks from the park at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, overlooking Morningside Park. They successfully raised two eyasses in 2006 and three in 2007.

The Central Park Christmas Bird Count held December 17, 2006, determined that there were probably ten Red-tailed Hawks in the park that day, but it was expected that the extra four hawks would be driven off once the 2007 mating season began. It is common for two or three immature Red-tails, and sometimes an unattached adult, to winter in the park before departing in the spring.

Red-tailed hawk in Riverside Park

In recent years, many more Red-tailed Hawks have taken up residence in New York City. A 2007 study commissioned by the Audubon Society reported that pairs of Red-tails were spotted breeding in nests at 32 locations throughout the city, and hawk watchers say they have spotted dozens of unattached Red-tails across the five boroughs. Relatively small green spaces about the city, such as the main Columbia University campus , or Riverside Park, may attract a transient hawk who stays for a few days or months.

In popular culture

"Pale Male," a one hour documentary by filmmaker Frederic Lilien aired on NATURE - WNET in 2004. A feature documentary called "The Legend of Pale Male" by Frederic Lilien was completed in April 2009.

Alt-Country singer Steve Earle references Pale Male in his song "Down Here Below", from the 2007 album Washington Square Serenade.

Pale Male (or at least a puppet of him) has made several appearances on Late Night with Conan O'Brien where he played various instruments with The Max Weinberg 7

At least three children's illustrated books about Pale Male have been published, including:
The Tale of Pale Male: a True Story, by Jeanette Winter (Harcourt, 2007);
City Hawk: the Story of Pale Male, by Meghan McCarthy (Simon & Schuster, 2007); and
Pale Male: Citizen Hawk of New York City, by Janet Schulman (Knopf, 2008)

Further reading

• Marie Winn. Red-tails in Love: A Wildlife Drama in New York. New York: Vintage, 1999. ISBN 0-679-75846-1.
• Thomas J. Lueck. "New York Celebrities Evicted on Fifth Ave., Feathers and All". The New York Times. December 8, 2004.
• Thomas J. Lueck and Jennifer 8. Lee. "No Fighting the Co-op Board, Even With Talons". The New York Times. December 11, 2004.
• Jennifer 8. Lee. "As Hawks Circle, All Sides Seek Compromise". The New York Times. December 12, 2004.
• Thomas J. Lueck. "Birds' Nest Will Be Saved, if Co-op Architect Says Yes". The New York Times. December 14, 2004.
• Thomas J. Lueck. "Co-op to Help Hawks Rebuild, but the Street Is Still Restless". The New York Times. December 15, 2004.
• Peri McQuay. A Wing in the Door: Life With A Red-tailed Hawk. New York: Milkweed, 2001. ISBN 1-57131-239-0
• Jeanette Winter. The Tale of Pale Male: A True Story. New York: Harcourt, Inc., 2007. ISBN 978-0-15-205972-9. (Children's nonfiction picture book)

External links

• Lincoln Karim's Pale Male site (includes many photos)
• Marie Winn's website; accessed 26 April 2010
• Feature film website
• Pale Male Irregulars website
• Pale Male at IMDb
• PBS Pale Male Page
• Pale Male fan chronicles from afar the destruction and restoration of the nest