Frank, "Honk for the Hawks" wasn't a clue? A person dressed up in a giant bird suit wasn't a dead giveaway? Just kidding. If I hadn't been aware of what had taken place, I would probably have walked right by and not paid any attention to yet another NY protest.
About seven or eight years ago, sparrows decided to build a nest in my air-conditioner sleeve. Much fluttering and choiping. Mikey (my cat) was tres agitated. Robins came along and stole the nesting makings. Much squawking and fluttering. I decided to discourage further nest-building. Now when a bird lands in my air-conditioner sleeve, I make loud noises and bang on the air-conditioner. The birds fly away. I think back on that time as the Lexington Avenue boid wars. :-)
Roberta wrote:Frank, "Honk for the Hawks" wasn't a clue? A person dressed up in a giant bird suit wasn't a dead giveaway?
Aha!!! :wink:
Obviously, I have become a New Yawka.
On being a Noo Yawker: Many years ago, friends moved to Brooklyn Heights and invited me to a house-warming party. I got on the subway in Manhattan. Two stops after mine, a person dressed as giant tomato got on the train. I thought nothing of it. One stop later a clown in full makeup got on the train. I was unfazed. A giant tomato and a clown? No big deal. Barely warranted a glance. Two stops later, a gangster and his moll got on the train. Toy machine gun. Aha. A light bulb went off in my head. Halloween.
Welcome to the Big Apple, Frank.
Updates: A man was arrested today for harrassing Paula Zahn's family. Her husband is head of the co-op board and was very instrumental in getting the nest removed.
This evening PBS aired the documentary about Pale Male. At the end, an update was provided along with an address that provides current info: thirteen.org.
Thanks for that, Roberta. That's a terrific website, by the way!
The PBS show was terrific...and Pale Male is one hell of a Red Tail
Because of my golfing...I am in almost daily contact with Red Tails...and I think they are magnificent birds. But Pale Male stands out in the crowd.
Frank, The guy is Super-Boid. He fought off about 20 crows single-wingedly to save his babies. And I'm not an expert on avian intelligence, but I suspect that he's smarter than average.
Many moons ago... I was 7 months pregnant and the ex decided to take me hiking through the Rockies in Yoho provincial park. Mid way through a walking bridge, while crossing over a steep gorge, a strange badger like animal came running toward me. I stopped, it stopped, sat down and looked at me. He wasn't overly large, about the size of a small german shepard, he grunted a bit, then just walked off in the other direction.
I didn't know what I'd encountered until we visited the park office the next day. The warden showed me pictures of all the wildlife in the park and was stunned when I pointed at the wolverine. He said, either I was very lucky or the animal knew I was preggars.
If you live in polar bear country, you never leave the house without a gun, the bears actively hunt humans and are extremely patient.
The hawk story kills me. I love hawks. They are part of my name, and my tat. In edmonton, we have a lot of birds, hawks are not terribly uncommon but beautiful to watch none-the-less. I find it facsinating to watch the several pairs of peregrine falcons, who have made nests and return to the many highrises and strangely a cement factory each year. How hard would it have been to hire someone to clean the birds aftermath?
As the story unfolds, more information surfaces. I don't know how long it was applicable, but it would have been against the law at one time to touch the nest. This related to a migratory bird statute.
It is also surfacing that people in the building objected to bird watchers sitting in the park with binoculars and telescopic camera lenses peering at their apartments. This sounds absurd to me. The only possible way anyone or anything can be seen from the street is if it's directly in front of the window. And haven't these people heard of curtains? Shades? Blinds?
I'm amazed that the co-op board didn't consider the repercussions. A documentary. A book. Countless people know about Pale Male. Did they think that no one would notice?
Roberta wrote:As the story unfolds, more information surfaces. I don't know how long it was applicable, but it would have been against the law at one time to touch the nest. This related to a migratory bird statute.
It is also surfacing that people in the building objected to bird watchers sitting in the park with binoculars and telescopic camera lenses peering at their apartments. This sounds absurd to me. The only possible way anyone or anything can be seen from the street is if it's directly in front of the window. And haven't these people heard of curtains? Shades? Blinds?
I'm amazed that the co-op board didn't consider the repercussions. A documentary. A book. Countless people know about Pale Male. Did they think that no one would notice?
They knew...and they knew in spades. A big fuss was made at the board meeting about the repercussions...but they were brushed aside.
Lawyers had gotten a ruling that the EPA directives no longer applied.
In any case, the story today is that the board is capitulating...and will allow humans to re-build the nest somehow.
Keep tuned.
Thanks, Frank. It will be interesting to see if the nest will be accepted. Why not let the birds do what they want to do?
Yes, Roberta. Now even on the other side of the world know & are outraged! I don't think these folk knew what the repercussions would be. Seves them right!
The most striking thing about the rich is the gracious democracy of their manners--and the crude vulgarity of their way of life.
Not really pertinent, but here in Timberland, we got hawks of all sorts, and owls and osprey and eagles aplenty too. I really appreciate bein' fortunate enough to be able to enjoy watchin' 'em as a day-to-day thing. Pretty neat to see a big ol' Baldy steal a fish from a startled and outraged osprey in mid-air, or watchin a couple rough-legged hawks chase a buncha indignant crows away from a tasty bit of carrion only to have a redtail sieze the moment - and the roadkill
, or to see a flock of sparrows botherin' helloutta a perplexed barn owl. And then there's kestrels and harriers - they really enjoy the songbirds that hang around through the winter hereabouts
Another off-the-wall aside; seems our Northern Hawk Owl is
Back
Timber, Sounds positively, well, natural. And divine.
These are the same people that would put a rural dweller in jail for shooting a bald eagle because it was eating all his chickens and attacking people (they do this).
I certainly don't, however, condone shooting bald eagles.
I've been attacked by eagles, hawks, bluejays, even a swan. Only the bluejays got what they deserved.
