June 27, 2005

• MONDAY BOOK

  Pale Male and Lola

  My favorite article in this month’s Vanity Fair is a love story with a happy ending. The lovers just happen to be raptors – actually red-tailed hawks – and oh yes, bird lovers of Central Park, New York City. Twelve years ago, the residents of 927 Fifth Avenue, a very posh 12-floor limestone apartment building overlooking the park woke up to find that a crowd was gathering and telescopes were training on their home, specifically focusing on the ornate molding that framed the top center window. Most hawks migrate between late summer and late fall, but a few stay year-round. Pale Male, with his four-foot wing span and unusually light chest-feathers, was the first red-tailed hawk of record to nest in Central Park with his original mate, First Love. On this molding the hawks built a nest with sticks and various other building materials that was protected from weather and predators. That year the nest was dismantled by the building’s residents, but the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service sent a stern reprimand that this violated the Migratory Birds Treaty Act that forbids destroying migratory birds, their nests, or their eggs and was punishable with a stiff fine. And so the hawks were allowed to rebuild, which they did and this peace treaty continued for another 10 years until 2003. By then, Pale Male had his present mate, Lola, and they were beginning to raise families. The residents were striking back by flashing the blinds of the window next to the nest and installing spikes around it that kept the birds from perching. The stress caused one brood to die. The residents found a legal loophole that allowed them to once again vote on removing the nest, and in early December 2004, they did the dirty deed. Now the hawk-lovers began to swing into gear. They alerted the newspapers, enlisted the aid of Mary Tyler Moore (a noted animal activist) who just happened to live in the building, and began to vigil (see photos). To make a long story short, the wealthy tenants of 927 Fifth Avenue met and hassled with each other until eventually they hired an architect to add a spiky stainless steel basket and metal cradle to the pigeon spikes already there to hold the nest and keep debris from falling on the street, costing them in the end around $100,000. On December 28, 2004, the barriers were removed and Pale Male and Lola began to rebuild. As of this month, they are trying to make babies again and you can visit them here. Some say Pale Male is about 15 years old already, giving him probably another 5 years to live. Hopefully, the humans who live on the other side of the wall from his family will leave them in peace – one small step for two hawks and a “giant leap for mankind.”
  

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  Deep Thought: “I don’t think God put me on this planet to judge others. I think he put me on this planet to gather specimens and take them back to my home planet.”
  Today I am grateful for: The sea
  Guess the Movie: “Hey, whataya gonna do, nice college boy, eh? Didn’t want to get mixed up in the Family business, huh? Now you wanna gun down a police captain. Why? Because he slapped ya in the face a little bit? Hah? What do you think this is the Army, where you shoot ‘em a mile away? You’ve gotta get up close like this and bada-bing. you blow their brains all over your nice Ivy League suit. C’mere…” Answer: The Godfather, 1972. Winner: thenarrator.
  Senators call for Congress to set rules for Guantanamo detainees
  By Matthew Daly
  ASSOCIATED PRESS
  1:40 p.m. June 27, 2005
  WASHINGTON – Two Democratic senators, just back from Guantanamo Bay, said Monday that Congress should come up with concrete rules for handling detainees at the U.S. prison there. (Rest of article here.)
  End of Day: 8:48 pm
  + = Rain supposedly ending tomorrow.
  - = Have to wait 3-4 weeks for results of biopsy for cancer.

  • 9:02 pm
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