This post appeared in a previous blog and is here for posterity’s sake.

I was sad to hear that Pale Male, the red tailed hawk who had made his nest on Fifth Avenue, had his nest destroyed opon order from his co-op board. I heard of tough co-op boards, but this is heartless. Pale Male lived atop 924 Fifth Avenue (at East 74th Street) for 11 years and had his own PBS Documentary (which is very good):

The story of Pale Male and his offspring has been well documented. Marie Winn, whose 1998 book on the subject, “Red-Tails in Love,” was the basis of a PBS documentary called “Pale Male,” said yesterday that the nest had been removed once before, in 1993, the year it was built.
She said the nest was built amid metal spikes that were placed on the 12th-floor cornice to discourage pigeons from roosting, and that the spikes had the unintended effect of providing a strong structure to brace a hawks’ nest against the wind. After it was destroyed in 1993, Pale Male rebuilt, Ms. Winn said.
That experience, she said, might provide evidence that Pale Male will again rebuild.
But another of the bird’s most ardent observers and proponents, Lincoln Karim, an engineer who has observed the nest for years with a telescope from Central Park, said he had seen workers take away the spikes yesterday.

Pale Male was a fixture in New York City, and I hope he can rebuild his nest. Check out the Pale Male website for more information. Much like other parts and people of the city, the removal of Pale Male is indicative of forces who wish to over-sanitize New York.
More On the Removal:
Hiding In Plain Sight
As The Hawk Flies: Bird Lovers Vs. 927 Fifth Avenue
Newly Homeless Above 5th Ave., Hawks Have Little to Build On