After hearing two very upset hawks and watching workers try to install a piece of plexiglass (which seems to be a very bad idea), we ran into a member of the Christodora Co-op Board who explained what was happening at the Christodora House. 

The building is starting a two year facade renovation which will require surrounding the building with a protective screen so all the brickwork can be replaced. If you’ve seen the top of the Christodora, which has mesh on top of almost the entire top floor to prevent brickwork from falling, you know this is an urgent and necessary project.

So, the buildings actions to remove the nest and discourage the hawks from reestablishing a nest are entirely justified. It’s better to force the hawks to relocate, then to have them injured during the construction.

But you have to wonder about two things:

1) How naïve the building’s board and management company must be not to have had a press release ready to explain their actions?  The Christodora House nest did get huge coverage in the NYC tabloids.  It was big news.  Didn’t the board know about the problems at Pale Male’s nest and the recent fines levied against a construction crew on Central Park West? 

2) What the heck are they doing with that sheet of plexiglass?  Imagine what would happen if one of the adult hawks flies into the plexiglass and is injured?  Looks like the Christodora House needs some adult supervision.