How old is Pale Male?

Pale Male - June 16, 2009
Photo courtesy of PaleMale.com


In the winter of 1991 when Pale Male first arrived in Central Park he had a brown tail. That means he was still an immature hawk, probably a one- year-old that year. If you do the math, he was three in 1993, the year the first Fifth Avenue nest was built. In 1995, the years the first chicks hatched on his 12th floor aerie he was five.

This is all in Red-tails in Love, pages 43-45. By the end of that book, which was published in 1998, he was only eight years old! When the second edition came out in 2005 [with a new subtitle--Pale Male's story], the same year the nest was taken down, our hero was fifteen.

Next year, if my calculations are correct, Pale Male will have his 20th birthday. We should have a great big celebration in Central Park, don't you think?