Pale Male

www.Palemale.com

     Pale Male (hatched in 1990) is a well-known New York City Red-tailed Hawk who has made his home near Central Park since the early 1990s. Birdwatcher and author Marie Winn gave him his name because of the unusually light coloring on 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 Bird watchers set up telescopes at the Model Boat Pond to observe his nest and chicks at 927 Fifth Avenue. Over the years, Pale Male has had multiple mates, and hatched many eyasses in their nest.

   In early 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.

   On December 14, 2004, the building, various city agencies, and the Audubon Society came to an agreement to replace the spikes and to install a new “cradle” for the nest. Champion Metal & Glass was honored to build and install Pale Male’s new nesting area. Some of the old nesting was retained and placed back in the newly fabricated “cradle”, to encourage the beautiful hawks to return to their familiar nesting area.

   By December 28, 2004, the scaffolding had been removed and the hawks started bringing twigs to the nest site.

  To this day, Pale Male still lives in the nest, with his current mate, continually hatching eyasses. Current pictures are taken almost daily and can be seen on www.Palemale.com.