A terrific look at a community of practice "in the wild!"

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Product Description

A "Wall Street Journal" contributor presents a foray into the secret world of New York's Central Park, a natural wilderness that turns out to be surprisingly rich in wildlife.

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #50293 in Books
• Published on: 1999-03-30
• Released on: 1999-03-30
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 352 pages

Amazon.com Review
The literature of bird watching is full of memoirs set in out-of-the-way, rural locales, but few are set in the heart of big cities such as New York, where Wall Street Journal ornithology columnist Marie Winn hangs her hat. In this delightful account, Winn tells of birding in Central Park with an unlikely band of fellow enthusiasts (including Mary Tyler Moore and Woody Allen). Among her objects of study were a pair of increasingly uncommon wood thrushes who set up their nest in the park's Ramble, treating city dwellers to their "penetrating, flutelike, heart-stoppingly beautiful song: Ee-oh-lee, ee-oh-loo-ee-lee, ee-lay-loo," and a pair of red-tail hawks who courted, mated, and produced offspring, thus quickening the spirits of Manhattanites. Both urbanites and those inclined to country matters will enjoy Winn's gracefully written story of observation and discovery.

From Publishers Weekly
New York's Central Park, although located in the heart of Gotham, is one of the prime birding areas in the country, with about 190 species observed by a dedicated band of nature lovers whom Winn knows as the "Regulars," being one herself. A nature columnist for the Wall Street Journal and the author of The Plug-In Drug and other books, Winn tells a captivating story here of hawks, humans and other denizens of the park over a five-year period. In the spring of 1992, a pair of red-tailed hawks built a nest on a high ledge of a building on Fifth Avenue (Woody Allen's penthouse was across the street). Great excitement and anticipation ensued among Winn's adoptive clan. When, in the third year, the first fledglings appeared, the Regulars maintained a dawn-to-dusk watch on the nest. They observed the hawks mating, hunting, eating (pigeons and rats were plentiful) and bringing food to their young. These activities attracted a lot of attention from people passing through the park?children, tourists, workmen, city officials?many of whom prove interesting here as sideshows to the main event of the birds. Winn brings a wonderfully clear eye to all her observations, avian and otherwise. Birders will be enchanted, as will thoughtful students of human nature.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal
YA-A charming story about a pair of red-tail hawks that set up housekeeping in the middle of New York City. It is also the story of the Regulars, a group of people who observe their activities and note them in the Central Park Bird Register. Winn is a member of this diverse group that was brought together by an interest in observing the many species that migrate through the area. One early spring day, a uniquely colored male red-tail appeared and soon attracted a female. Since hawks do not usually nest in the park, their presence caused great excitement in the bird-watching community. Their first attempt to hatch a family failed but the next spring they built a nest on the 12th-floor facade of a nearby apartment building. The Regulars set up an observation post on a bench and surveyed the hawks' activities. Over the course of the next three years, the group got involved with the apartment residents and superintendents, government experts, museum specialists, and wildlife rehabilitators. This is a true-life adventure quietly acted out but every bit as riveting as a big-action tale. It will be of interest to teens who enjoy nature and wildlife.
Penny Stevens, Centreville Regional Library, Centreville, VA
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Customer Reviews

Purchased this book in protest against Pale Male's eviction
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!

Marie Winn Makes Bird-Watching Irresistible.
"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.

Enchanting
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!