Homeless hawk Pale Male has checked into the Carlyle

DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS ^ | BY AUSTIN FENNER and TRACY CONNOR

[mom4kittys]

Booted Pale Male dines on squab before retiring to new digs at the nearby Carlyle. Homeless hawk Pale Male has checked into the Carlyle.

The red-tailed raptor bounced from his nest by rich birdbrains at a Fifth Ave. co-op was seen roosting yesterday on the roof of the swank hotel, which was happy to have him.

"He's very welcome, but has yet to order room service," quipped James McBride, manager of the Madison Ave. hotel, where penthouse suites go for $1,500 a night.

Despite the opulent surroundings, Pale Male seemed to be pining for home sweet home.

Throughout the day, he and his mate, Lola, carried twigs to the 12th floor of 927 Fifth Ave., where their nest was perched until this week.

The building's filthy-rich co-op board had the aerie dismantled on Tuesday, claiming it was a safety hazard and violated city regulations.

The move incensed bird watchers who regularly flock to Central Park for a glimpse of the famous bird whose urban exploits have been chronicled in a book and TV documentary.

Co-op board chairman Richard Cohen - a real estate developer married to CNN newswoman Paula Zahn - was emerging as a villain in the avian eviction.

Actress Mary Tyler Moore, who lives in the building and is a champion of the hawks, suggested that Cohen led the charge against Pale Male and Lola.

"As with any board of directors, there's a chairman," Moore said, when asked to name the chief nest-wrecker. "It's not that complicated."

Cohen's office referred calls to co-op lawyer Aaron Schmulewitz, who would not say what role he played in the decision.

Zahn also dodged questions, insisting through a CNN spokeswoman that she "had nothing to do with this" - but refusing to say whether she was on the side of her hubby or the hawks.

Other high-profile building residents, including financier Bruce Wasserstein, declined comment - even as protesters held a candlelight vigil in front of the building, hoisting signs that read "Ebenezer Zahn."

They want building management to restore the nest, and they're asking Mayor Bloomberg and Attorney General Eliot Spitzer to get involved.

So far, there's no sign the co-op will relent, and Shmulewitz scoffed at the idea that the human tenants at 927 Fifth Ave. should invite their feathered friends back.

"We can't tell the hawk, 'Yes, it's okay for you to build a nest again.' We can't tell the hawk, 'We won't allow you to build a nest again,'" he said.

"We can't tell the hawk anything."

Raptors galore, but only 2 are stars

Pale Male and Lola may be getting all the attention, but New York is home to hundreds of hawks - including a dozen or more of the soaring red-tails, bird watchers said.

Most of them are just stopping by on their winter migration, but a hardy few make permanent nests in treetops, bridges, even fire escapes.

"We have our own hawks in Brooklyn," said Rob Jett, a Park Slope computer technician who tracks a red-tail nest in Prospect Park. "They're all over the place."

In addition to the red-tails, Cooper's hawks, sharp-shinned hawks and merlin falcons can be seen in Prospect Park at this time of year.

On Staten Island, there are a couple of pairs of endangered peregrine falcons nesting on the bridges, and harrier hawks are common in the winter, said Ed Johnson of the Staten Island Institutes of Arts and Sciences.

Red-tails also have been found in the Queens House of Detention and a Bronx apartment building. There are even other hawks in Manhattan: Four peregrine falcons hatched on a ledge at 44 Water St. last year.

So why are Pale Male and Lola getting all the attention: film crews, protesters and the support of Mary Tyler Moore?

Jett believes he knows the answer.

"It's that Fifth Ave. address," he said. "It's just like they say: location, location, location."

Austin Fenner and Tracy Connor

[mom4kittys]

Earlier threads:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1298528/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1297959/posts