It is difficult to know with 100% certainty that the hawk that died Tuesday was Pale Male, since Pale Male was never banded. The Red-tailed Hawk project is a research collaboration focused on the ecology and evolution of Buteo jamaicensis. Light-morph western birds tend to be more streaky on the underparts than eastern Red-tails south Texas forms are darker above, without the dark belly. A Great Plains race called 'Krider's' hawk is pale, with a whitish head and washed-out pink in the tail. Some took up bird photography professionally, he wrote, but "most were just local residents or tourists who just wanted an opportunity to get a glimpse of this famous hawk.”ĭavid Barrett, who runs birding Twitter accounts including Manhattan Bird Alert, said that for much of Pale Male's life “he was not only the world’s most famous red-tailed hawk, but he was probably the world’s most famous bird, one that people knew by name.”īarrett said the hawk's fame “shows that even in an intensely urban place like Manhattan, there are many people who have a fondness for wildlife and feel a connection to it.” Red-tailed Hawks have extremely variable plumage, and some of this variation is regional. Horvath wrote in his post that Pale Male inspired bird lovers and photographers around the world. abieticola by the combination of pale supercilium, unstreaked white breast, and lack of rufous tones. borealis have much less obvious bellybands, but this individual can be separated from B. Pale Male and Lola rebuilt their nest.Īs his legend grew, Pale Male was the subject of a 2009 documentary, “The Legend of Pale Male,” and at least three illustrated children's books. An adult ‘Eastern’ Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis borealis) from Springfield, VT in February 2017. The co-op board, which had voted to remove the nest as a hazard, quickly reversed itself and restored a row of anti-pigeon spikes that the hawks had used to anchor their nest, and even added a new metal “cradle” on the ledge. The birders were outraged in 2004 when Pale Male's nest with then-mate Lola was ripped from its ledge on the 12th floor of a ritzy apartment building whose residents included actor Mary Tyler Moore and CNN anchor Paula Zahn. Pale Male, so named because of his whitish plumage, was first spotted in Central Park as a juvenile in 1991 and began nesting on Fifth Avenue across from the park in 1993.īird lovers crowded inside the park to watch as Pale Male and his succession of mates hatched and raised their young each spring. “We hoped for any improvement, but sadly it was not meant to be,” he said. Photograph by Joel Sartore, National Geographic Photo Ark. The hawk later ate a small meal but remained weak and lethargic, Horvath said. A western red-tailed hawk (Buteo jamaicensis calurus), a subspecies of red-tailed hawk, photographed at Los Angeles Zoo in California. Horvath posted that he picked Pale Male up and took him to his rehab group's veterinarian, who did bloodwork and X-rays.
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