In case no one has responded to Marty Schlabach's recent post
questioning whether anyone knows of red-tail hawks catching prey on the
wing, I saw one do just that. Not in real life, however, but on film.
I recently went to the showing of "The Legend of Pale Male" at Cornell
Cinema. The producer/director, Frederic Lilien, gave a talk the night
before at the Monday night seminar and was there to answer questions
after the showing. I thought the film was superb and believe it would
be very appealing to all bird lovers. I checked on the internet, and it
looks like it will be coming out on DVD this spring. I plan on getting
a copy or two the first chance I can.
Some 20 years ago Pale Male just happened to pick an area to nest that
was on a posh 5th Avenue penthouse right next to Central Park, where
there is a virtual cornucopia of prey. One of the clips in the film
showed Pale Male flying in among a flock of pigeons and actually
catching one in flight! You'll have to see it to believe it!
Pale Male is a most unusual red-tail, and may well be the exception to
the rule that elsewhere in the wild red-tails rarely, if ever, catch
prey on the wing. Anyone have any first-hand observations of red-tails
catching prey in flight, or know more on this subject?
Larry
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W. Larry Hymes
120 Vine Street, Ithaca, NY 14850
(H) 607-277-0759, w...@cornell.edu
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