<< 1 >>
Rating: 
Summary: A must read!
Review: "Red-Tails In Love" is more than a story of migrant red-tail hawks raising a family in the middle of Manhattan. It's the most inspiring piece of writing about birding that I've ever read. This book would entice anyone to break out the binoculars and head outdoors to meet the avian neighbors. Author Marie Winn, who also writes a nature column for the Wall Street Journal, tells the tale of her birding colleagues, a group of regular bird watchers in New York's Central Park, and their obsession over the course of a few years with a pair of red-tailed hawks' attempts to breed in the midst of America's largest urban jungle. The drama repeats itself every year as the hawks try to cope with threats from humans and birds alike in order to raise broods of young red-tails in their 5th Avenue nest -ensconced in some of Manhattan's most prestigious real estate, no less. The most incredible part of the story is the rehabilitation of several injured female red-tails, who make their way back to Central Park and annually provide the birdwatchers with a new mystery to solve as to the identity of Pale Male's mate. Interspersed with the adventures of the hawks and hawk-watchers are other stories of bird-watching in the Park, including unusual sightings, some near-disasters with the city's Parks Department, and introductions to some very knowledgeable, and occasionally colorful, birders. In the last section of the book, entitled "A Wildlife Almanac", you will find guides to "Birds Through the Year in Central Park", "Butterflies of Central Park", "Migrating Hawks Over Central Park", "A Taste or Two Along the Way" (edible plants), and a map of the park. The guides are written by some of the Park's birding "Regulars" who are experts in those subjects, and contain information on where and when to find the species mentioned. If you live in New York City or are planning an extended visit, you may find this section of the book extremely useful. And to think that when I lived in New York City, it never occurred to me to go bird-watching in Central Park. If I ever return there, I won't make that mistake again. "Red-Tails In Love" is a very readable story of birds who thrive in an urban environment and the humans who are fascinated by them. It's a real page-turner...and a cure for anyone who ever thought birds were boring. The best thing about this book is that makes bird-watching irresistible.
Rating:
Summary: Purchased this book in protest against Pale Male's eviction
Review: As a New Yorker, I hadn't really paid much attention to Pale Male before this unfortunate state of affairs. There was something shockingly callous and arrogant in the way the board of 927 Fifth Avenue destroyed this magnificent bird's home. I hope the hawks will eventually get their nest back.
I would like to find out more about this star's history and family. My whole family is now crazy about him and Lola.
Hail Pale Male!
Rating:
Summary: Enchanting
Review: As I write this at the very end of 2004, a red-tailed hawk drama has hit the press: The nest of a minor celebrity, Pale Male, the hero of the non-fictional "Red Tails in Love," had his nest summarily and probably illegally removed from the tony 5th Avenue address where he has nested for many a year.
I happened to be in the middle of this divinely wonderful book when the news hit the airwaves, and I took it hard. Marie Winn, the ornithology (for lack of a more romantic word) columnist for The Wall Street Journal, wrote this lovely account of a band of birdwatchers who discover nesting raptors right across from Central Park in 1998. This was before 9/11 by a few years, and it has that wonderful innocence we all felt about life before the attacks.
The story concerns a red-tailed male hawk, dubbed "Pale Male" by the birdwatchers because of his unusually pale coloring, and his various mates and fledglings who live and breed in the most exclusive of addresses: New York's Upper East Side. We get to know the birds, their babies, their nesting triumphs and tragedies. We learn about the phenomenally prolific wildlife in Central Park, from birds to turtles to raccoons to dragonflies to butterflies to edible plants. We learn to know and love the dedicated band of independent souls who track these wonders of nature from season to season, year to year.
I hope that all will go well with Pale Male this year. And I hope that anybody who has any doubt about the beauty of the human spirit and the creatures who inhabit the earth with us will read this simply wonderful book!
Rating:
Summary: Support Pale male and Lola
Review: I am going to purchase "Red Tails in Love" for gifts and to show my support for Pale Male and Lola. Perhaps, others who support these magnificent creatures, will do the same. It's one way for individuals who live far away from "927" to support the efforts to keep Pale Pale and Lola in their home.
Rating: 
Summary: Cute!
Review: Please, enough already with the schmaltz.This is a nice enough book for the armchair naturalist and those who haven't a clue as to what N.Y.C. is and ain't.
Mary Tyler Moore and Woody Allen indeed, enough with the name dropping. This is Kaffee Klatch stuff and although a nice enough read it truly just goes on and on. For interesting non-fiction about nature and The Big Apple (as out of towners might call Manhattan) try Margaret Mittelbach and Michael Crewdson or Kim Todd and Claire Emery.
Rating:
Summary: Irresistible Story, Excellent Writing
Review: This wonderful book welcomes in its readers as surely as, for the several years it describes, the hawk watchers of Central Park welcomed in anyone who passed by, shared a pair of binoculars, and got instantly hooked on the amazing scene of a family of hawks growing on the ledge of a Gold Coast apartment building in Manhattan. Ms. Winn's precise, quick-reading prose will convert any reader to a greater, renewed, or first appreciation for wildlife in Central Park in particular, but, even more, for what nature will have going on anywhere. There are several stories here, all fascinating: the cycle of bird life in and migration through the Park; Pale Male and his families; and those humans, so normal in their individual quirkiness, who take up his cause through the years. Ms. Winn's particular and not easy skill is to let all these stories move themselves, and therefore sweep the reader along with all the quiet excitements, joy, and sadnesses they convey. A book to buy and keep always.
Rating:
Summary: Bought as a protest to their nest's destruction
Review: We are purchasing this book as one of several ways we are showing support for these majestic predators and our disdain for the building managers and board who outrageously destroyed their nest yesterday. They should be ashamed of themselves and replace the support structure ASAP so these birds can rebuild their home and not leave the Central Park area where they have delighted folks for years and played a signficant role in repopulating NYC with red-tailed hawks.
<< 1 >>
|
