New York Bird Lovers Want Pale Male's Nest Restored

[PhiPsiRuss]

By Nicole Maestri

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The abrupt removal of the nest belonging to Pale Male, a famous red-tailed hawk who lived on a tony Manhattan apartment building, had bird lovers up in arms on Thursday and demanding his home be restored. _

Pale Male, once the topic of a documentary, is said to have been evicted for defecating on his doorstep and dropping the gnarled remains of pigeons outside the building entrance.

Supporters rallied for a second day on Thursday outside the apartment building overlooking Central Park, saying he gives a rare glimpse of wildlife to hardened city dwellers.

"We're just incensed by the disregard for New York City wildlife," said Stephanie Blackwood, who protested in front of the building on Thursday.

Her colleague, Jan-Peter Daniels, held a sign that read: "Successful, rich and mean. Give Pale Male his home back."

The bird gets his name from his unusually washed-out color. His unusual nest, built 12 stories above the park, inspired a book, a movie and a cult following. Bird lovers gathered there to observe the hawk and his mates, who raised more than 20 chicks in the nest since building it in 1993.

The rest of this article is here: http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmp...life_hawk_dc_2

[PhiPsiRuss]

[valkyrie]

What kind of asshole would object to a bird living on his or her building?

[PhiPsiRuss]

Originally posted by valkyrie
What kind of asshole would object to a bird living on his or her building?

Maybe the superintendent or a doorman. Some people have complained about the pigeon and rat carcasses that the hawks occasionally deposit on the sidewalk. This neighborhood is really freaking rich. The elevators in these buildings have elevator operators, even though they aren't needed. The sidewalks are immaculate. If anything happens to make the sidewalks dirty, it gets cleaned pronto, but not by the residents. An employee of the building is out cleaning right away.

One of this building's residents, Mary Tyler Moore, spoke to the press the other day to say that she wants the nest back.

This story has an unknown time factor. The hawks will eventually give up on rebuilding their nest. No one knows when, so people want this taken care of yesterday.

[valkyrie]

They could seriously just hire someone to do Carcass Patrol!

[Rudey]

Awww!

Now back to reality.

This isn't a zoo.

-Rudey

[33girl]

Pale Male sounds like the microbrew version of Schmitt's Gay.

[IowaStatePhiPsi]

Originally posted by valkyrie
What kind of asshole would object to a bird living on his or her building?

Paula Zahn from CNN. She lives in the building and her husband, real-estate developer Richard Cohen, is on the co-op board that voted to evict Pale Male.
"Flip the bird to Paula and the rest of those hoity-toity residents." was in the New York Post last week under a picture of her.

[Peaches-n-Cream]

I wouldn't want a hawk living on my building if the sidewalk would be littered with dead pigeons and rats and bird droppings as a result. Russ is right; these people are ridiculously rich and have paid millions of dollars for their co-ops. They are usually the type who shy away from media attention. Those Fifth and Park Avenue Co-op Boards can be brutally selective so I am surprised that Mary Tyler Moore and Paula Zahn live there since celebrities are usually turned down.

I think Richard Cohen is the President of the Co-op Board.

[DolphinChicaDDD]

Originally posted by Peaches-n-Cream
I wouldn't want a hawk living on my building if the sidewalk would be littered with dead pigeons and rats and bird droppings as a result.

They complained about the occasional dead pigeon/rat... Meanwhile, the hawk was preventing TONS of pigeon droppings. And pigeons/ rats (well, actually, IMHO piegeons are rats with wings) are a serious health problem. Pale Male did more to help protect that building that any of the people ever realized.

[Peaches-n-Cream]

Originally posted by DolphinChicaDDD
They complained about the occasional dead pigeon/rat... Meanwhile, the hawk was preventing TONS of pigeon droppings. And pigeons/ rats (well, actually, IMHO piegeons are rats with wings) are a serious health problem. Pale Male did more to help protect that building that any of the people ever realized.

Here is an update to the story: The building is replacing the metal structure (pigeon spikes) on which the hawk built its nest. The pigeon spikes prevented the pigeons from landing on the building which prevented the pigeon droppings. They are also building a guardrail to catch any falling debris. It should be completed by Monday. This seems like a good compromise and solution. The hawk has a home and the sidewalk will not be littered with pigeon and rat carcasses.
http://cbsnewyork.com/siteSearch/top...350162124.html

[Rudey]

Originally posted by Peaches-n-Cream
Here is an update to the story: The building is replacing the metal structure (pigeon spikes) on which the hawk built its nest. The pigeon spikes prevented the pigeons from landing on the building which prevented the pigeon droppings. They are also building a guardrail to catch any falling debris. It should be completed by Monday. This seems like a good compromise and solution. The hawk has a home and the sidewalk will not be littered with pigeon and rat carcasses.
http://cbsnewyork.com/siteSearch/top...350162124.html

They should move it to Central Park or to a zoo. Why compromise when you are in the right? For "ooohs" and "aaahs" and "awws"?

-Rudey

[Peaches-n-Cream]

Originally posted by Rudey
They should move it to Central Park or to a zoo. Why compromise when you are in the right? For "ooohs" and "aaahs" and "awws"?

-Rudey

I think the building got sick of all the media attention. This story has been one of the first three or four stories on the local news for almost a week. The first night the anchor said "Longtime resident evicted from posh Fifth Avenue co-op."

When I first heard about it, I wondered why the thousands of homeless people living on the streets of New York didn't receive this type of attention. Where's the outrage there?

[Rudey]

Originally posted by Peaches-n-Cream
I think the building got sick of all the media attention. This story has been one of the first three or four stories on the local news for almost a week. The first night the anchor said "Longtime resident evicted from posh Fifth Avenue co-op."

When I first heard about it, I wondered why the thousands of homeless people living on the streets of New York didn't receive this type of attention. Where's the outrage there?

They should cook the hawk, put a nice little reduction sauce on it, and serve it with mushrooms, potatoes, and garlic and serve it to a lucky homeless man.

-Rudey

[PhiPsiRuss]

Originally posted by DolphinChicaDDD
They complained about the occasional dead pigeon/rat... Meanwhile, the hawk was preventing TONS of pigeon droppings. And pigeons/ rats (well, actually, IMHO piegeons are rats with wings) are a serious health problem. Pale Male did more to help protect that building that any of the people ever realized.

DolphinChicaDDD is so right on this one. I don't have actual numbers to support this argument, but it should be pretty obvious.

It works out to something like this:
HawkPoo < potential of PigeonPoo from killed pigeons

Originally posted by Peaches-n-Cream
Here is an update to the story: The building is replacing the metal structure (pigeon spikes) on which the hawk built its nest. The pigeon spikes prevented the pigeons from landing on the building which prevented the pigeon droppings. They are also building a guardrail to catch any falling debris. It should be completed by Monday. This seems like a good compromise and solution. The hawk has a home and the sidewalk will not be littered with pigeon and rat carcasses.
http://cbsnewyork.com/siteSearch/top...350162124.html

There you have it. Much less bird poo, and no "road kill" falling from the sky.

Everyone wins.

Also, the ad hoc community of hawk lovers wins too. I saw an interview with one of them. He talked about how he thought that all of those people were really strange. One day, he stopped to look for a while, and he got sucked in. Now he brings a (rather large) telescope to the park to watch the hawks, and he shares in this community.

This is not just about the birds. These birds have made this city a little smaller, and a little bit more personal for many.

I find these hawks to be amazing. They don't belong here. They won't build nests in Central Park's trees, or other natural elements of most of Manhattan. Somehow, they found their niche here. As a building gets taller, it moves its occupants away from nature in so many ways. This symbol of society's gentry, where the residents' lifestyle is so far beyond mere survival, became a perfectly safe cliff side to the instincts of one of nature's great survivors.

The contrast amazes me.