May 2, 2008--Love In High Places

It was late summer, before the leaves had even begun to change in New York’s Central Park, and lovers could still be spotted embracing on the Great Lawn. But all was not well in the zoo’s Penguin House, where for seven years Silo and Roy had been a devoted couple with, how to put this, an active sex life. They had even contentedly raised an adopted baby called Tango. But then, into their lives, came the legendary “other woman”; and Silo strayed, abandoning Roy, who was left to spend long nights alone, in the corner of their chilly world, staring forlornly at the wall.

There are of course a million stories of this kind in the Big Town, but what made this one so special was that Silo and Roy were both male and thus they had been engaged in a homosexual affair. What controversies this unleashed! All because the penguin-keepers had played a matchmaker role in successfully straightening Silo out.

If this had occurred in the middle of Kansas it would have hardly been noticed, but in New York City if a penguin could be “cured” of gayness what implication might that have for humans? This is not a comfortable or debatable subject in the Big Apple.

But now we Manhattanites have to deal with the ongoing lovesong of Lola and Pale Male, two red-tailed hawks that have been nesting and mating, also in the high-rent district, above a lintel at Fifth Avenue and 74th Street. (See linked NY Times article.)

They have been at it, so to speak, for years, returning to the same spot where they sired many chicks. That is until 2004 when folks who had spent millions to purchase their co-ops had the nest removed. It was blocking the view, perhaps soiling the façade, maybe even attracting too many birders who were fascinated by Pale Male’s and Lola’s ability to thrive in such a harsh and unnatural environment.

As you might imagine, there were cries of outrage. Leading the protest was one of the building’s residents, Mary Tyler Moore; and because of her leadership and the attention her celebrity attracted to the cause, the co-op board was forced to relent and to accommodate the hawks built a steel cradle to which they returned and in which they constructed a new nest.

But though Lola produced eggs during the next four years and attempted to hatch them, nothing happened. Some say this is because the cradle does not allow her to do with the eggs what must be done for them to hatch; others, perhaps from sad personal experience, claim that maybe because of age Pale has lost it.

So, many wonder, why after four years of frustration do they keep returning to New York? If the whole purpose of their annual migration from South Carolina where they likely winter is to reproduce, why don’t they just stay in there? They need to deal with all the flying back and forth and our pollution and the sounds of fire engines racing down Fifth Avenue?

I’m not an ornithologist, but I do know something about real estate: it’s all about location, location, location. And thus where would you rather be—living rent-free high up in a New York City penthouse or in Spartanburg? Simple.