Pale Male - A Red Tail Hawk, living in NYC

[gbird]

I've been following this story of this amazing bird and his family for years, ever since I saw the documentary on him on PBS.

For those who don't know. Pale Male is a Red Tailed Hawk, who has taken up residence in Manahatten, over looking Central Park. He has made a nest on one the more expensive appartment buildings, and has had a few mates, and lots of kids. You may remember the story of when the city decided to take down the nest, because a few nieghbors in the building complained about the poop....this caused quite a stir, and threatened the life of Pale Male & his mate. Mary Tyler Moore even got in on it, as she lives in the building (as does Woody Allen). The nest was finally replaced, and Pale Male still lives there.....since 1995.

Anyway, here's a of link to his story

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/palemale/

and here's his official website.

http://palemale.com/index.html

[ROYJOY]

that reminds me of when, i believe in the 70's or 80's, perigrin falcons were released in down town denver. they thrived there among the buildings because they are used to living in cliffs. they raised many generations of young there. im not sure why this was done, too long ago. mabe it was a study in pest control? any one ever here of this? are they still there?

[mamalovesrico]

Originally Posted by ROYJOY

that reminds me of when, i believe in the 70's or 80's, perigrin falcons were released in down town denver. they thrived there among the buildings because they are used to living in cliffs. they raised many generations of young there. im not sure why this was done, too long ago. mabe it was a study in pest control? any one ever here of this? are they still there?

No I have never heard of this but how interesting. I wonder why they did it and would love to follow up on their research. Thanks for posting.

[gbird]

Here's the story of the Peregrine Falcons in Denver:

The decline of the American peregrine falcon and its designation as an endangered species is a familiar story. The accumulation of pesticides through the food chain resulted in the thinning of peregrine eggshells, causing eggs to be crushed in the nest. This effect, along with habitat loss and other factors greatly reduced peregrine populations. By 1975 there were no peregrine falcons east of the Mississippi and only 47 known pairs in the West. By 1979 Colorado reached a population low of four nesting pairs.
But the peregrine falcon is a success story in the battle to recover endangered species. Intense recovery efforts have brought the American peregrine falcon back from near-extinction. In 1994 the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service removed the Arctic peregrine falcon subspecies from the list of threatened and endangered species. The American peregrine falcon, the subspecies breeding in Colorado, is expected to be downlisted from endangered to threatened in 1995.

For nearly 20 years, the Colorado Division of Wildlife has taken an active role in American peregrine falcon recovery, in cooperation with the U.S. Forest Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Bureau of Land Management and National Park Service. Between 1979 and 1989, more than 500 falcons were released to the wild throughout most of Colorado, in locations such as Dinosaur National Monument and Rocky Mountain National Park. Contributions from the people of Colorado through the Nongame and Endangered Wildlife Checkoff on the state income tax return contributed to these efforts. Colorado downlisted the American peregrine falcon from endangered to threatened status in 1993 due to the success of these cooperative recovery efforts.

To reintroduce young peregrines to the wild, eggs were gathered from wild nests, or from captive birds, then carefully hatched in laboratories. The young chicks were then returned to wild nests to be raised by adult peregrines or placed in hack boxes (sort of like halfway houses) in natural habitat where they were fed by biologists until able to fend for themselves. Suspended by climbing ropes, often on the side of sheer cliffs, DOW raptor biologist Jerry Craig carefully gathered eggs, leaving artificial eggs in their place so the adults would not abandon the nests. He later placed chicks back in the wild nests. Occasionally adult peregrines attacked him, but most often they flew by and protested. "I felt like such a heel when I took their eggs from the nest," he says. "They'd look almost dejected, standing where their eggs once were and peering about." But the instant acceptance of chicks once they were replaced in nests, the solicitous care and parenting he observed from the foster parents who suddenly found a nestful of big, hungry babies demanding to be fed, was rewarding.

In 1988 and 1989, ten peregrine chicks were hacked atop a skyscraper in downtown Denver, in hopes of establishing a pair of urban-dwelling peregrines which would feed on pigeons and other birds and nest amid the "urban canyons" of downtown high-rises. The program, sponsored by the Peregrine Partnership, a coalition of public and private groups including the DOW, also hoped to call attention to the plight of the peregrine and gather public support for recovery efforts. Last summer, a pair of unbanded peregrines visited downtown Denver but neither was from the Denver release. Though peregrines are occasionally seen downtown, there has been only one confirmed return sighting of any of the chicks released there- a young female who returned and defended the hack site, rendering it unfeasible to release birds there a third year. Craig isn't surprised a population wasn't established (it takes release of 15-20 chicks to produce one surviving adult) but he feels the downtown releases were successful in the amount of public support they generated.

Of the 500 chicks released statewide, 80% survived to leave the nest, about the same as the wild success rate. Today, Colorado's peregrine population is doing very well, says Craig. "They're continuing to increase each year, filling in vacant areas that were at the top of our list," he adds. Colorado now has 71 sites occupied by nesting peregrines. Craig estimates there will be l00 to 120 nest sites when the population is fully recovered. "The proof of the pudding (of the population's ability to maintain itself) will be in the next five to six years," he says. "I'm very enthusiastic The population has rebounded far better than I would have anticipated."

[mamalovesrico]

Gbird, thanks for posting the article. Very interesting. You know, I think I remember seeing some kind of documentary about this or something along these lines. Was there a documentary? I remember the removing of eggs from the nests and the problems and attacks he was encountering.

[gbird]

I'm not that familiar with the Falcon sotry. I googled to get that article. It was interesting, I had no idea they were so few in #'s

I'm just really passionate about Palemale's story. I love that people will sit for hours, sometimes days to watch the chicks fledge. If you ever get a chance there is a video of the whole story, try and see it if you can. It's been on TV a few times. Sad thing is, one of his mates, and a few of his chicks died, because of the pigeon's in NY. There are so many of them, that people go to the park and put out poison seed, so if one of the hawks eats one of the pigeons that was poisoned, it will die. You should go to the site and have a look around.

[Buteo]

My city has had a series of sucessful years with the Peregrines. In 1994, a peregrine falcon was seen haunting one of the downtown hotels. In '95 MNR was notified & a PAIR of PF's were identified as nesting on one of the buildings. For more info, click the History subheading at http://www.hamiltonnature.org/hamfalcam.html

There are also some interesting still pics at
http://www.peregrine-foundation.ca/h...mPhotos06.html

I've been lucky enough to be downtown when one of the birds made a kill.....
No, it wasn't "pretty", but still an incredible sight to see.....
and let me tell ya -seeing it on film doesn't compare to seeing it live.
There were 2 other people (strangers) near me when I spotted the falcon setting itself up for the stoop. the conversation went like this:

"Look! Up in the sky!" I said as I first saw it.
"Is it a Hawk?" says the young lady
"No way, it's too small & way too fast -that's one of the Peregrines!" (Peregrine falcons are the fastest things on the planet- bar none. A "Stoop" or hunting dive can exceed 240mph!)
"HOLY $#@%! Look at that thing move!" says an older gentlemen.
"UhOH -That flock of pigeons doesn't see it."
"Here it comes!"
POOF!
"WOW!!! Did ya see that????? It looked like that one pigeon just exploded in midair!"
"OH, OHMYGOD!, poor pigeon!! Look it's just a shower of feathers now! What happened to the falcon?
"There they are!" I say pointing to a bundle of feathers slowly spinnin to the ground, "the falcon's talons are buried in the other bird, hangin onto it"

The falcon guided it's falling prey to an empty grassy space at the edge of a small parking lot. The very end looked similar to this:
http://www.peregrine-foundation.ca/P...eb20th2005.mpg

**In case yer wondering, YES, the falcon in that clip only has one working foot. "Dundas" lost his foot in the fall of 2004, but thrived here. He mated & the pair moved from downtown to a mall on the Escarpment in 2005. In 2006, they both moved on to Kitchener and are still flying.

As for how far our Hamilton raised young Falcons range once they're on their own....
June 28, 2006: The Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources in the USA has identified "Cootes" (one of the 4 chicks of the 2004 season) as a Peregrine nesting at a LG&E (Louisville Gas & Electric) company power station in that state!! This is the furthest away that a Hamilton born falcon has been identified.

During nesting season, you can watch the action with the hamfalcam at:
http://www.hamiltonnature.org/hamfalcam.html