1. It may not have been a redtail hawk. Highly unusual for one to be walking around (unless injured).

2. There are many redtails in the park other than Pale Male.

3. There are at least three other nesting pairs in or around the park (including what is probably PM's son as part of a pair nesting on the Trump Parc building).

4. Pale Male and his mate are not nesting on a roof, but rather a ledge at 927 Fifth Ave. (possibly with at least one newly hatched young one at the moment). [Hawks wouldn't ever nest on a roof (usual spot is a tree)]

(Interview. Caroline Baum is a columnist for Bloomberg News.
The opinions expressed are her own.)

By Caroline Baum
April 21 (Bloomberg) -- Behind the neo-Italian renaissance
facade of 927 Fifth Avenue, the residents come and go as usual.
The only sign that something is afoot is the crowd that
gathers several hundred yards away at the sailboat pond in
Central Park, their telescopes trained on the nest above the
building's 12th floor cornice.
In the nest, Pale Male, the most famous red-tailed hawk in
the world, and his mate, Lola, are waiting for their eggs to
hatch, any day now.
He gained international notoriety last December, when the co-
op board at 927 Fifth Avenue voted to remove his nest. The public
outcry was so loud the building was forced to replace the metal
spikes -- originally installed to deter the pigeons but
transformed into a nest anchor -- so that Pale Male could
rebuild.
And rebuild he did. Between bites of pigeon wings and rat
innards, Pale Male took time out to reflect on recent events.


Baum: Pale Male, how did it feel to have your nest
dismantled and destroyed, to be evicted from your home?
Male: How do you think it felt? Awful. On the other hand, I
couldn't have paid Howard Rubenstein for that kind of publicity.
We made page 1 of the New York Times.
Baum: Did you ever consider relocating?
Male: Not in a hot housing market in a city with antiquated
rent-control laws. Even if you can find a prime property, the
cost is prohibitive.
Baum: Uh, you aren't exactly an owner or paying tenant.
Male: You think Lola and I are squatters? We do our share
for the local economy. Tourists come from all over the world just
to see us. Leica lenses fly out of the stores during
mating/nesting season. There must be 12 tons of glass staring up
at us from Central Park.
Baum: I read that the residents of 927 Fifth took your nest
down because they were sick of the half-eaten pigeon carcasses
you dropped on the sidewalk.
Male: Don't believe everything you read. They needed a casu
belli. We keep a clean nest. You should see the mess in some of
the building's apartments. No wonder they don't want telescopes
looking in. CNN has enough problems without it being revealed
that Paula Zahn is a pack rat.

Single Mother

Baum: You know, you aren't the only famous fowl in the news
A mother duck is sitting on nine eggs outside the U.S. Treasury
- and she's being guarded by the Secret Service.
Male: Yes, and where's the father duck? Gonzo alonzo with
the wind. That's ducks for you. Do you think I'd leave Lola to
sit on the eggs alone? Hawks are different. We're loyal. We have
family values. That's what America's about, family values. Red
tail, red states.
Baum: But you live in the bluest of blue states, Pale Male.
Male: Right. The nest-nabbing incident never would have
happened on the Upper West Side, where the Audubons are at home.
Baum: Still, the Secret Service! They're providing the same
protection for the mallard as for the president.
Male: And why not? The co-op board found a way to destroy
our home when we weren't nesting, as if there was any question of
ownership. I'd lived there for 11 years, raised 23 offspring with
four different mates. We just want to be part of President Bush's
ownership society.
Baum: Something tells me you have views about Social
Security.
Male: Let's just say I have a nice nest egg.

Editor's Note: The full story of Pale Male is recounted in
``Red-Tails in Love,'' by Marie Winn, and in the PBS documentary,
``Pale Male,'' by filmmaker Frederic Lilien, who is at work on a
follow-up.
For those who would like a first-hand experience, enter
Central P

Includes a tally of the pigeon count