Pale Male Petition 

On July 24, 2012, the Wild Equity Institute filed a formal administrative petition with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service ("Service") urging it to change its migratory bird nest policy. The policy encourages destruction of migratory bird nests, which is prohibited by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MTBA). The Service’s policy has led to the destruction of countless bird nests since it was enacted, including one of a famous New York red-tailed hawk.

Pale Male is a red-tailed hawk who has nested near Central Park in New York City since 1991. He has many fans throughout the world. During the 2004 holiday season, Pale Male’s nest, built on the side of a residential Fifth Avenue building, was deliberately destroyed. The nest was approximately 400-pounds and was built over several years. Almost immediately, this act of destruction was met with popular uproar among his fans. Newspapers ran stories as far away as Saudi Arabia and India, and over ten articles appeared in the New York Times. Protests and vigils were held outside the apartment building while Pale Male and his mate, Lola, fruitlessly attempted to rebuild their nest. The pairs’ efforts failed because the structure that had previously supported the nest had been deliberately removed to prevent the birds from nesting again. After 21 days of public pressure, the building co-op board relented and reinstalled a supporting structure for Pale Male and Lola. The red-tailed hawks immediately began to rebuild their nest.

Unfortunately, although the pair mated in the spring of 2005 and Lola laid a clutch of eggs, the eggs failed to hatch—likely because of the stress inflicted by their eviction or because the nest was too thin, causing the eggs to be damaged by its supporting structure. Over the next seven years, Pale Male and Lola continued to produce eggs that would not hatch. Although Pale Male finally was able to produce offspring with a new mate in 2011, during those years when his eggs failed to hatch Pale Male did not recruit new members into the local population, and his birdwatching fans did not have a new set of nestlings to celebrate.

This tragic story could easily have been avoided if the Service had correctly carried out its duties under the MTBA. The MBTA expressly prohibits the destruction of migratory birds and their nests unless the Service issues a permit to do so. Although the Fifth Avenue building co-op board applied for a permit to remove Pale Male’s nest, it was told by the Service that no permit was necessary because the nest was “unoccupied,” which is defined as “without birds or eggs.” The Service made this determination even though Pale Male and Lola were residing in the nest year-round.

This odd result is the product of a Service policy that encourages destruction of nests even if a property owner is willing to move a nest rather than destroy it. Under this policy, anyone may destroy a nest so long as no egg or fledgling is within it at the moment of destruction, regardless of whether an adult bird is using the nest for shelter, roosting, or returns to the same nest every spring.

The Service continues to follow this policy today and, consequently, countless functioning bird nests have been destroyed without oversight from expert biologists and without legal consequence. The Service must change this policy in order to adequately protect birds as the MBTA requires. The changes suggested in WEI’s petition to the Service would address the policy’s illogical approach to dealing with migratory bird nests.

Pale Male Petition News

 

Wild Equity Participates in Release of Injured Baby Herons, Seeks Full Prosecution for Incident

Wild Equity staff participated in a very special event on Saturday, June 7: the release of five juvenile Black-crowned Night Herons, four of which were injured in the Oakland tree trimming incident last month. The event was hosted by our partner…

Wild Equity to Discuss Migratory Bird Nest Protection in the Wake of Oakland Heron Disaster

Staff Attorney Laura Horton will give a talk on Wild Equity Institute’s migratory bird work on Sunday, July 20, 2014 as part of the Unitarian Universalist Forum series. Laura will discuss the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s nest destruction…

Wild Equity Leads Bird Talk at Environmental Law Conference

Wild Equity staff members Laura Horton and Amy Zehring recently attended the 32nd Annual Public Interest Environmental Law Conference at the University of Oregon Law School in Eugene. The conference is a premier gathering for environmental lawyers…

Law Journal Publishes Article Written by the Wild Equity Team

The Wild Equity Institute is pleased to announce the publication of Problems for Pale Male: An Analysis of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Nest Destruction Policy in the Summer 2013 issue of the Pace Environmental Law Review. The article,…

Urgent Action Needed on Wild Equity Petition As More Bird Nests Destroyed

In July of 2012, the Wild Equity Institute filed a formal administrative petition with the Obama Administration requesting that it repeal a Bush Administration interpretation of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act ("MBTA"), and provide full protection…

Pale Male Petition to Obama: Stop Nest Destruction Now

The Wild Equity Institute filed a formal administrative petition with the Obama Administration today, asking the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service ("Service") to protect migratory bird nests from destruction unless and until prior written authorization from the Service is obtained.

Fish and Wildlife Service Nest Policy

On April 15, 2003, the Service issued the Migratory Bird Permit Memorandum, which introduced a new policy position on the destruction of migratory bird nests. In this memorandum, the Service argues that when an “inactive” bird nest—one…