Pale Male, Central Park's Superstar Hawk

tags: Pale Male, red-tailed hawk, Buteo jamaicensis, birds, NYC, Central Park, Image of the Day

I don't have a photo to show the actual event but I had a startling sighting in the park yesterday. Long story short: I whistled to attract one of "my" Northern Cardinal regulars but a group of eight White-throated Sparrows raced toward me instead. I thought it was neat that they had learned to recognize my sound the way the cardinals have. Wrong! The sparrows did not come for a peanut but instead rocketed past me into a holly bush. I heard a thump and turned to see the back end of a Cooper's Hawk on the ground five feet away. Obviously the hawk had chased the sparrows into the bush and had not noticed me standing there. I could see it but the hawk's view was blocked by the shrubbery. The predatory pushed itself into the bush. I heard branches rustling, sparrows calling and there was lots of rustling about. Then a telling silence. Out of the bush the hawk zoomed with a limp sparrow clutched in its talons. But that wasn't the end of it. I followed the hawk to a tree about 30 feet away where it perched and began to tear into its catch. It abruptly stopped and rushed west, perched briefly to look around and then zipped completely out of sight. Why didn't it stay put and eat the sparrow? Out of the corner of my eye I saw some movement. Who else but Pale Male, world wide celebrity hawk, had arrived and was sitting on the highest point on top of the Metropolitan Museum of Art watching the Cooper's Hawk vanish. The Cooper's Hawk must have been intimidated by his majesty and lit before he had to confront the bigger, badder hawk.