Chronology
When he arrived in Central Park in 1991, as a first-year immature hawk, Pale Male tried to nest in a tree, but he was driven off by crows. He later roosted on a building on Fifth Avenue across the street from the park. In early 1992, he found a mate, dubbed First Love. First Love was injured later that year and removed to the Raptor Trust in New Jersey. During her absence, Pale Male took another mate, called Chocolate by birdwatchers. After several unsuccessful spring nesting attempts, Pale Male and a mate, possibly Chocolate, hatched 3 eyasses in 1995. The eyasses survived to young adulthood and took up residence in Central Park. Chocolate died later that year from injuries from a collison with a car on the New Jersey turnpike.
First Love returned to Central Park after being banded and released from the Raptor Trust. She and Pale Male reunited and raised several eyases. People in the park waited months to see the eyasses grow and then take their first flights. Pale Male was a good father, bringing food to his offspring about five times each day. In 1997, First Love died after eating a poisoned pigeon in Central Park.
Pale Male's mate from 1998 to 2001 was a hawk known as Blue. The pair were observed to hatch about 11 eyasses in that period. Blue disappeared about the time of the September 11 terrorist attack in 2001.
In early 2002, Pale Male was first observed with a new mate, Lola. They raised 7 eyasses between 2002 and 2004, building a nest on ornamental stonework above a top-story window on a residential housing cooperative at 927 Fifth Avenue (at East 74th Street) on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. Lola disappeared in December 2010 and is presumed dead.
A new mate appeared in early January 2011. This new hawk, Lima (also called "Ginger", because of her dark feathers on her neck and chin), was only in her second year. She was a young adult, with still-yellow irises, indicating her exact age. Her first nesting attempt was in the winter and spring of 2011 using the existing nest. Ginger exhibited behavior consistent with incubation of eggs in mid-April 2011 and two eyasses emerged towards the end of May 2011, producing the first baby hawks in this nest since 2004. Lima died on Saturday, February 25, 2012, presumably from a poisoned rat.
After Lima's death, Pale Male took a new mate, dubbed Zena, with whom he subsequently mated. The two sired 3 offspring, 2 of which were poisoned, rescued, rehabilitated, and then released back into Central Park. In the meantime, Zena disappeared and is presumed dead, and Pale Male took a new mate, dubbed Octavia due to her status as Pale Male's eighth mate.
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