PhotoDude.com

Wed. Dec 08, 2004

Soulless in Manhattan

A little of the magic of Manhattan, a rare piece supplied by Mother Nature, was intentionally destroyed yesterday.

Pale Male the city hawk was evicted from his nest on Tuesday, and the flap has already begun.

So said aggrieved bird-watchers and neighbors after workmen — under cover of a dismally rainy day when almost no one was looking — raised a scaffold to the top of a Fifth Avenue apartment house, ripped out the famous red-tailed hawk’s nest and carted it off in a van.

The act appeared to end an urban drama that has fascinated long-time bird-watchers and recruited many more to their ranks over the past nine years, as Pale Male and a succession of mates raised 25 chicks — the last trio of fledglings last June — on the narrow 12th floor ledge.

The hawks also achieved a measure of world fame, through television specials and a book, “Red-Tails in Love.” Audubon society experts say that while the raptors are no strangers to city life, they normally nest in trees, and there is no previous record of a pair taking up permanent residence on a high-rise building.

A doorman at the building said it was managed by Brown Harris Stevens, a prominent Manhattan real estate firm. At the company office, an employee declined to comment.

Newsday: City Hawks evicted from Fifth Avenue nest

I first learned of Pale Male from a PBS special, and if the story of this red tailed hawk’s struggle and success in the Big Apple didn’t move you, well, you have no heart. No soul. No cognizance of the world that surrounds you, or wonder at its marvels, just a desire to shape it to your whims.

At this point, it’s hard to determine the blame here. Brown Harris Stevens is supposedly the company that owns and manages the building. Their home page shows they specialize in properties in Manhattan, the Hamptons, and Palm Beach. Their clientele is the upper class. How many Sierra Club or Audubon Society members are among their clients? How many rich people angrily throwing their money around will it take for Brown Harris Stevens to realize the error of their ways?

But it may be specific to this building. Apparently the board of directors for 927 Fifth Avenue decided that the problem of bird droppings (and the occasional pigeon carcass) meant the nest had to go … after nine years in place. After becoming so well known even this distant Georgia Boy is pissed about its removal. There are no laws protecting red tailed hawks or their nests in Manhattan, and there is little doubt the board has the right to do whatever it wants with its building.

But just because something is legal does not mean it is moral, ethical, or simply “right.” If you reduce the matter to simple legalities, as is your right, there are other consequences when you proceed. You will have assured that the path of the comfortable man will not be sullied by a mere bird, and by staking that priority, you’ve marked yourself.

You will have a sidewalk clean of bird droppings (because, of course, Pale Male was the only defecating bird in Manhattan), but you will be left with no soul. You will have a clear cornice above that window, but you will be left with no heart.

You will have cleaned a few square feet of a building, and removed some of the magic of Manhattan. You will have “protected” your “home” by evicting one of God’s creations, a living example of the mysterious ways in which He works. A speck of marvel in Manhattan. And you wiped it clean.

You even made Mary Tyler Moore mad (she lives in the building): “I am so outraged that they would do this without so much as a by your leave [...] This was something we like to talk about: a kinder, gentler world, and now it’s gone.””

May a million pigeons rest on your roof, and dump their offal on you daily.

Later: Bastards “The building’s management company said of the nest removal, ‘It was a researched and thought-out decision on the part of the building’ [...] On Wednesday, Pale Male and Lola, his female companion, could be seen circling the building and bringing back twigs to try to rebuild the nest, which bird watchers said would be futile without the metal spikes to support it.”

Even Later: Brian W. Carver suggests there may be a law that covers this.

And More: NY Daily News “The co-op board, which sources say is headed by developer Richard Cohen, husband of CNN newswoman Paula Zahn, contacted the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which said the co-op could get rid of the nest as long as there were no chicks or eggs inside. Neither Cohen nor Zahn could be reached for comment.” There are times I wish I was a very rich person, too. Because that would allow me the funds to have a truckload of manure dumped on the steps of 927 Fifth Avenue (“sure, officer, I’ll pay the fine”). Or perhaps a release of 500 pigeons. But since I’m not rich, I’ll simply turn off CNN every time I see Paula Zahn’s face.