Pale Male and Lola

There was a report on the news that Pale Male and Lola have eggs in their nest. They are a pair of red-tailed hawks, the first to ever set up housekeeping in Manhattan, and they are dearly loved by New Yorkers. Since 1991 Pale Male has lived across from Central Park, a haven for birdwatchers, on a ledge on the 12th floor of an apartment co-op, raising his young, teaching them the ways of the world, hunting in Central Park to feed them. By all reports, and there are thousands of reports, he is an excellent mate and father. Lola is his third mate there. The first two met unhappy fates due to city life. Pale male and Lola, according to reports, have raised 23 baby hawks in the city.

In December of 2004 the co-op board made the unfortunate mistake of removing their nest, and the iron spikes, intended to repel pigeons from nesting, that had supported the hawk's nest, from the façade of the building. The inhabitants, many of them famous, objected to the crowds of devoted birdwatchers the famous hawks attracted, and to the dropping of bloody leftovers on the sidewalk in front of their building. By then the birds were at least as famous as the famous inhabitants. A book had been published about them, and a documentary had featured them on public TV. Even so, the co-op residents had no idea of the furor removing the nest would cause. The poor hawks constantly circled overhead, screeching, homeless and pathetic. Bird lovers from around the world gathered in the park to protest the treatment of two of New York's most beloved inhabitants. A man dressed in a red hawk suit carried a sign on Fifth Avenue, New York's most prestigious street. The co-op board was adamant. No more hawks on their façade.

The plight of the birds dominated the TV news and the front pages of the newspapers. New Yorkers love and cherish their wildlife far more than they cherish their human celebrities, especially when the celebrities turn into nasty villains who are being mean to wildlife, and this was mean. These hawks, after all, were pioneers, exhibiting the finest traits of high intelligence and illustrating the power of the survival of the fittest, all New York values of the highest order. They had recognized the lush oversupply of rats and pigeons in the area and were doing all New Yorkers the public service of re=establishing the balance of nature. They had recognized that they could survive as well on the ledge of a city high-rise as on any mountain cliff or tall tree in a forest. They were wonderful parents who had provided many happy hours of family bird watching, they did far more good than harm, and they were unique, rare adventurers from a wild world.

The Audubon Society negotiated the return of the birds to their home with the co-op board. Finally, the iron spikes were replaced, and the birds could rebuild their nest. The birds tentatively settled back in, began rebuilding, but they were wary and nervous and did not lay any eggs during all of 2005. So it is very happy news that eggs have been spotted in the nest this month. May Pale Male and Lola raise many generations of young red-tail hawks in peace!