The literature of bird watching is full of memoirs set in out-of-the-way, rural locales, but few are set in the heart of big cities such as New York, where Wall Street Journal ornithology columnist Marie Winn hangs her hat. In this delightful account, Winn tells of birding in Central Park with an unlikely band of fellow enthusiasts (including Mary Tyler Moore and Woody Allen). Among her objects of study were a pair of increasingly uncommon wood thrushes who set up their nest in the park's Ramble, treating city dwellers to their "penetrating, flutelike, heart-stoppingly beautiful song: Ee-oh-lee, ee-oh-loo-ee-lee, ee-lay-loo," and a pair of red-tail hawks who courted, mated, and produced offspring, thus quickening the spirits of Manhattanites. Both urbanites and those inclined to country matters will enjoy Winn's gracefully written story of observation and discovery.


From Publishers Weekly
New York's Central Park, although located in the heart of Gotham, is one of the prime birding areas in the country, with about 190 species observed by a dedicated band of nature lovers whom Winn knows as the "Regulars," being one herself. A nature columnist for the Wall Street Journal and the author of The Plug-In Drug and other books, Winn tells a captivating story here of hawks, humans and other denizens of the park over a five-year period. In the spring of 1992, a pair of red-tailed hawks built a nest on a high ledge of a building on Fifth Avenue (Woody Allen's penthouse was across the street). Great excitement and anticipation ensued among Winn's adoptive clan. When, in the third year, the first fledglings appeared, the Regulars maintained a dawn-to-dusk watch on the nest. They observed the hawks mating, hunting, eating (pigeons and rats were plentiful) and bringing food to their young. These activities attracted a lot of attention from people passing through the park?children, tourists, workmen, city officials?many of whom prove interesting here as sideshows to the main event of the birds. Winn brings a wonderfully clear eye to all her observations, avian and otherwise. Birders will be enchanted, as will thoughtful students of human nature. Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From School Library Journal
YA-A charming story about a pair of red-tail hawks that set up housekeeping in the middle of New York City. It is also the story of the Regulars, a group of people who observe their activities and note them in the Central Park Bird Register. Winn is a member of this diverse group that was brought together by an interest in observing the many species that migrate through the area. One early spring day, a uniquely colored male red-tail appeared and soon attracted a female. Since hawks do not usually nest in the park, their presence caused great excitement in the bird-watching community. Their first attempt to hatch a family failed but the next spring they built a nest on the 12th-floor facade of a nearby apartment building. The Regulars set up an observation post on a bench and surveyed the hawks' activities. Over the course of the next three years, the group got involved with the apartment residents and superintendents, government experts, museum specialists, and wildlife rehabilitators. This is a true-life adventure quietly acted out but every bit as riveting as a big-action tale. It will be of interest to teens who enjoy nature and wildlife.Penny Stevens, Centreville Regional Library, Centreville, VACopyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Library Journal
In 1992, the appearance of two rare red-tailed hawks in Central Park triggered a frenzy among the city's bird-watchers. The couple's perils in trying to mate and raise their young in the middle of Manhattan make for entertaining, instructive reading.Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Booklist
"The greatness of Central Park has another, deeper source: the very idea that wildlife can exist and even thrive in the middle of New York." Winn's opening chapters of her paean to bird-watching in Central Park evokes the paradox of this pursuit in the heart of the nation's largest city. Writing of the Regulars--the core group of bird-watchers--and the discovery of a nesting pair of red-tailed hawks, the author presents the story of five years in the natural life of the park. By 1992, when the story begins, Central Park had existed for 119 years but had never hosted nesting hawks. The intricacies of the pairing, nest building, mate loss, and re-mating of the hawks lead to the heart of the book: the fate of a nest located atop a twelfth-floor window on one of Fifth Avenue's exclusive apartment buildings. This wonderful look at wildlife, and people's responses to wildlife, will appeal to many readers. Appendixes listing bird and butterfly species found in the park, along with seasonal highlights, add to the usefulness of a book that is recommended for all libraries. Nancy Bent


From Kirkus Reviews
This story is for the birds--but even non-avians will applaud this winning narrative of romantic raptors and other feathered habitus of Manhattan's Central Park. Surprisingly, Central Park is one of the top birdwatching spots in America: The bird census in 1996 came to 275 separate species, counted by a dedicated cadre of birdwatchers and naturalists of which Winn (Unplogging the Plug-In Drug, 1987) is an early-rising member. While the eponymous hawks are the stars of this show, the dramatis personae include seed-stealing squirrels, chickadees, woodpeckers, the ubiquitous pigeon, the birdwatchers themselves, and two human celebs: Mary Tyler Moore, on whose Fifth Avenue building the red-tails construct their nest, and Woody Allen, whose penthouse is within easy binocular range one block north. Over the course of four breeding seasons, Winn and company anxiously observe Pale Male and two or perhaps three different females as they struggle to raise a family while beset by assorted man-made and natural perils. The birdwatchers protect the nest from workmen on scaffolds; they rescue Pale Male and his first mate when they are injured; they fret over the effects of the Pocahontas premiere on the park's Great Lawn (the hawks do not seem to mind). When chicks finally hatch, these enraptured raptor watchers keep vigil, readily sharing telescopes and binoculars with passers-by. Winn writes with great knowledge of the habits of the park's wildlife, but she is equally observant, slyly so, of the tendencies of the human species, particularly those inhabiting the Upper East Side; the best story here, perhaps, is that of the devoted core of amateur birdwatchers--Winn included--who forfeit sleep and frequently money to preserve a little wildness in the city. Written with warmth and modesty, a great book for birders and nature readers, as well as an interesting portrait of New Yorkers. Winn thoughtfully includes an informative ``Wildlife Almanac'' in the appendix. -- Copyright ©1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.


Review
"Enchanting." —The New York Review of Books

"An amazing drama, as good as any soap opera and all the more remarkable since it is a true wildlife story." — Birding

"A sublime lesson in adaptability, hope, and wild-bred devotion. It'll make you look to the skies, no matter where you live." —Carl Hiaasen, Mirabella

"Astonishing. . . . If you don't believe that the Central Park of Stuart Little has always existed, read this book and open your eyes." —Mary Tyler Moore

"Engaging . . . Dr. Zhivago with feathers. . . . That such simple pleasures can be savored today, in the heart of frantic New York City, is a bit of a miracle." —The Boston Globe

" 'Give your heart to the hawks,' the poet Robinson Jeffers wrote. Marie Winn certainly has, and so will readers of this delightful book." —The New York Times Book Review

FROM THE PUBLISHER

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.

FROM THE CRITICS

Richard Wolkomir

Between the lines, this melodrama about nesting hawks is really about how wildness persists, even amid concrete and glass and jackhammering. It is about a tough town's politesse, giving the winged newcomers space, not getting in their face. And so it is a hopeful book. We learn that even urban sophisticates will trudge into the park in midwinter to put out seeds and suet. As one Regular said of the hawks, 'Aren't we lucky to see this?' -- New York Magazine

Publishers Weekly

New York's Central Park, although located in the heart of Gotham, is one of the prime birding areas in the country, with about 190 species observed by a dedicated band of nature lovers whom Winn knows as the "Regulars," being one herself. A nature columnist for the Wall Street Journal and the author of The Plug-In Drug and other books, Winn tells a captivating story here of hawks, humans and other denizens of the park over a five-year period. In the spring of 1992, a pair of red-tailed hawks built a nest on a high ledge of a building on Fifth Avenue (Woody Allen's penthouse was across the street). Great excitement and anticipation ensued among Winn's adoptive clan. When, in the third year, the first fledglings appeared, the Regulars maintained a dawn-to-dusk watch on the nest. They observed the hawks mating, hunting, eating (pigeons and rats were plentiful) and bringing food to their young. These activities attracted a lot of attention from people passing through the parkchildren, tourists, workmen, city officialsmany of whom prove interesting here as sideshows to the main event of the birds. Winn brings a wonderfully clear eye to all her observations, avian and otherwise. Birders will be enchanted, as will thoughtful students of human nature. (Mar.)

Library Journal

In 1992, the appearance of two rare red-tailed hawks in Central Park triggered a frenzy among the city's bird-watchers. The couple's perils in trying to mate and raise their young in the middle of Manhattan make for entertaining, instructive reading.

School Library Journal

A charming story about a pair of red-tail hawks that set up housekeeping in the middle of New York City. It is also the story of the Regulars, a group of people who observe their activities and note them in the Central Park Bird Register. Winn is a member of this diverse group that was brought together by an interest in observing the many species that migrate through the area. One early spring day, a uniquely colored male red-tail appeared and soon attracted a female. Since hawks do not usually nest in the park, their presence caused great excitement in the bird-watching community. Their first attempt to hatch a family failed but the next spring they built a nest on the 12th-floor facade of a nearby apartment building. The Regulars set up an observation post on a bench and surveyed the hawks' activities. Over the course of the next three years, the group got involved with the apartment residents and superintendents, government experts, museum specialists, and wildlife rehabilitators. This is a true-life adventure quietly acted out but every bit as riveting as a big-action tale. It will be of interest to teens who enjoy nature and wildlife.-Penny Stevens, Centreville Regional Library, Centreville, VA

Patricia T. O'Conner - The New York Times Book Review