Pale Male and Lola can have their nest back - and the man who brought it about, Lincoln Karim, is unfortunately now facing a legal battle of his own. It sounds like he may have gone a little overboard, but his heart was in the right place. I'm glad to hear that Mary Tyler Moore has set him up with a lawyer.

This is such an emotionally charged thing, but I think it's important to keep the perspective that Red-tail Hawks have been surviving on their own since before monkeys got clever enough to build ladders and pull down their nests. Pale Male and Lola would have found another spot to rebuild, but the troubling thing about this situation is that years of love and observation of a famously adored animal were almost negated overnight by the actions of a few people who regarded its presence as an intolerable incovenience. 

posted by Lorna Brown at 2:44 AM

Colin's Adventure in Iraq: for a view on the war from one of our troops - a really amazing writer, who has had a lot to deal with over the past year, in addition to being deployed. People like this make you appreciate the personal sacrifice that many of National Guard members are making. He's using Hello!

 
posted by Lorna Brown at 4:11 AM

Geminds peak tonight -- bundle up. It is always colder than you expect and once the stars start falling, you hate to have to go inside...

Posted by Hello
posted by Lorna Brown at 3:12 AM

Mirrored from palemale.com, since they were previously having some trouble with legal intimidation by the building management who removed Pale Male's nest.

CALL THEM NOW:

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg City Hall New York, NY 10007 PHONE 311 (or 212-NEW-YORK outside NYC) Web E-MAIL: http://nyc.gov/html/mail/html/mayor.html

Hillary Clinton 476 RUSSELL SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510 (202) 224-4451 Web E-MAIL: clinton.senate.gov/email_form.html

Charles Schumer 313 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510 (202) 224-6542 Web E-MAIL: schumer.senate.gov/webform.html

Liz Kreuger (26th District) 302 Legislative Office Building Albany, New York 12247 518-455-2297 lkrueger@senate.state.ny.us

Assemblymember Jonathan L. Bing (73rd Assembly District) 360 E. 57th Street Mezzanine Level New York, NY 10022 212-605-0937 bingj@ assembly.state.ny.us

For more info on the story, please look on Google News. Link.

posted by Lorna Brown at 1:56 PM

From the NYC Audubon, an request for action to save the nest of Pale Male and his mate, a pair of red-tail hawks who have been raising clutches at the same spot at 927 Fifth Avenue for over ten years.

The building is managed by Brown Harris Stevens, a luxury property management company that's been in business since 1873. The management at Brown Harris Stevens made the decision to tear down this nest, which has been featured in books, movies, and on television, due to a resident's complaint about bird droppings.

Contact information for the management company is listed on their webpage, at www.brownharrisstevens.com. If this story upsets you, perhaps you might respectfully let them know.

The building has only 12 residents, among them Mary Tyler Moore, who was reportedly upset by the property manager's decision. I worked in NYC for a year, and I know that most people would welcome any sign of wildlife, simply because it is so out of the ordinary in that city environment. I can't see why anyone in NYC would want to discourage predatory birds from roosting overhead.

I grant you, sudden and unexpected predatory bird droppings can be upsetting. I once had the honor of being pooped on by a peregrine falcon, and that was definitely icky. But is it really more disturbing to step over hawk droppings than to invite an infestation of rats and a sidewalk patina of pigeon dung?

UPDATE: From Curbed.com, a list of some of the other building residents at 927 Fifth Ave.Link.

Posted by Hello
posted by Lorna Brown at 9:28 PM