Marie Winn is our guide into a secret world, a true wilderness in the
heart of a city. The scene is New York's Central Park, but the rich
natural history that emerges here--the loons, raccoons, woodpeckers,
owls, and hundreds of visiting songbirds--will appeal to wildlife lovers
everywhere. At its heart is the saga of the Fifth Avenue hawks, which
begins as a love story and develops into a full-fledged mystery.
At the outset of our journey we meet the Regulars, a small band of
nature lovers who devote themselves to the park and its wildlife. As
they watch Pale Male, a remarkable young red-tailed hawk, woo and win
his first mate, they are soon transformed into addicted hawk-watchers.
From a bench at the park's model-boat pond they observe the hawks
building a nest in an astonishing spot--a high ledge of a Fifth Avenue
building three floors above Mary Tyler Moore's apartment and across the
street from Woody Allen's.
The drama of the Fifth Avenue hawks--hunting, courting, mating, and
striving against great odds to raise a family in their unprecedented
nest site--is alternately hilarious and heartbreaking. "Red-Tails in
Love" will delight and inspire readers for years to come.
