From Today's New York Times

Photo by Don Hogan Charles
Pale Male arriving at the nest 4/28/05
[The photographer, whose name is well known to daily readers of the Times, spent the last three days at the Hawk Bench, chatting with the hawkwatchers]

This was the story in today's N.Y. Times as it appeared on Page B3 of the Metro section. They got it almost right but not quite. By omitting the fact that the nest was taken down after the nesting season in 1993 they made it appear that the hawks require TWO additional years in order to get a substantial enough nest to succeed. But when the nest was allowed to remain in 1994, when the hawks added ONE new season's building materials [twigs etc] in 1995, three chicks hatched that April.


April 29, 2005

5th Ave. Address, but No Youngsters in Nest

By THOMAS J. LUECK

In a bittersweet denouement, the eggs won't hatch.

So ends this year's reproductive cycle for New York City's most celebrated birds, the Fifth Avenue red-tailed hawks known as Pale Male and Lola. Since their nest was destroyed in December, the hawks rebuilt in February and laid eggs in March.

But April has earned its reputation for cruelty.

E. J. McAdams, the director of New York City Audubon, confirmed the inevitable yesterday in a press release, offering closure to dozens of anxious bird lovers who have gathered daily in Central Park, waiting for the heads of baby chicks to appear over the side of the nest on the 12th-floor facade of an opulent co-op building.

Because the incubation period for red-tailed hawks rarely exceeds 35 days, Mr. McAdams said, "it is improbable a chick will hatch."

Having determined by Lola's behavior that she laid at least one egg on March 9, Audubon officials said that 50 days had passed without a hatching, beyond the limit of hope.

"All their supporters are sad today," Mr. McAdams said.

"But the Pale Male and Lola story is a story of resilience, and we look forward to a successful nest next year."

Since Pale Male took up residence in 1993 at 927 Fifth Avenue, on the southeast corner of 74th Street, he has sired more than 20 chicks with a series of mates, according to naturalists' records.

The hawks' perseverance in a dense urban environment has delighted bird lovers around the world, and it prompted a groundswell of protest when the nest was destroyed by the co-op on Dec. 7.

The public outpouring persuaded co-op shareholders to provide a metal platform on Pale Male's cornice to support a new nest. He and Lola took to the platform eagerly, rebuilding with sticks and tree limbs from Central Park.

Still, their failure to bear offspring this year may have been caused in part by the newness and size of the nest. Observers say that it is smaller than the one that was destroyed, which had grown over the years to a width of more than eight feet, and that by next year it should be a better size for hatching chicks.

Nor is this the first year that hawk eggs have failed to hatch. Marie Winn, the author of "Red-Tails in Love," an account of the hawks' life in Manhattan, said that eggs failed to hatch in 1993 and 1994, but that three chicks were hatched the next year.

Mr. McAdams said yesterday that Pale Male and Lola seemed certain to try again, and that there was little chance they would move to a different home.

"Given what they've already been through, I just don't think they will ever leave," he said.