The big bird soars silently overhead in ever-wider circles. Half a dozen crows take notice and pursue, cawing loudly to alert all that will listen, "There's a danger present! Beware!"
They fly close by the hawk, occasionally making a feint, trying to drive the big predator away. Crows are agile, so they usually get away with this risky behavior. But sometimes one makes a mistake. It underestimates the hawk's quickness; it gets too close for a split second. Talons flash, black feathers scatter in the wind and a crow becomes a meal.
This time, the hawk seems not to care. As it turns lazily through the sky, the sun illuminates its wide-fanned tail feathers, rust-colored or brownish red.
The red-tailed hawk is the most common raptor in the eastern United States. It likes forest edges where it can perch high in a tree and survey fields for rabbits and rodents. It often is seen perched along highways, especially in winter, when it stands out against the bare trees.
A closely related bird, the red-shouldered hawk, has become comfortable with suburban neighborhoods. A pair nested in my backyard last year, just one of several pairs nesting within Winston-Salem.
Red-tails don't usually nest close to people.
Most red-tailed hawks, that is.
A bird known as Pale Male and his mate Lola have adopted the peculiar habit of nesting in the middle of one of the largest and busiest cities in the world — New York — and in doing so have become the most famous hawks in the world.
Pale Male chose Fifth Avenue across from Central Park as early as 1991. He has had a succession of mates, some becoming victims to the hazards of big-city life.
First Love was injured, rehabilitated and returned to resume her partnership with Pale Male. But she died after eating a poisoned pigeon. Chocolate was killed by a car on the nearby New Jersey Turnpike. Blue disappeared about the time of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
Lola came on the scene in 2002, when she and Pale Male built their nest on the ornamental stonework of a top-story window of a residential cooperative on Fifth Avenue. They raised seven chicks.
In December 2004, the management of the co-op decided the hawks were too messy for their upscale residence. They tried to destroy the nest. What they hadn't counted on was birders and nature lovers. Some of them, including actress Mary Tyler Moore and residents of the building, had taken quite a liking to this natural drama.
By the end of the month, efforts to evict the birds were stopped. Pale Male and Lola have nested each year, but no eggs have hatched since 2004.
The notoriety of the birds has spread, garnering a legion of followers. They have inspired a documentary on "Nature"/WNET, songs, children's books and a film, "The Legend of Pale Male."
According to the film's producers, it documents the mysterious power possessed by a red-tailed hawk to open the eyes and hearts of city dwellers to the wonders of nature.
The "Legend of Pale Male" will be shown Feb. 6 and 7 at a/perture cinema, 311 W. Fourth St., with a portion of the proceeds going to the Audubon Society of Forsyth County.
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The next Audubon meeting is Tuesday at 7 p.m. at the Historic Bethabara Park Visitor Center. The guest speaker will be Simon Thompson, who will discuss Birding New Frontiers and Familiar Destinations.
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