Lincoln Karim has posted a libelous attack of Bobby Horvath, on his website, www.palemale.com about Mr. Horvath’s decision to delay the return of the first fledgling of the Lower East Side nest to the site. 

Mr. Karim paints a picture of a young hawk being tortured in captivity, as if it had been sent to Guantanamo Bay.  He states that a standard identification band was illegally placed on the bird and that Mr. Hovarth’s decision to delay the bird’s return to the site after bring it back on Monday was some premeditated game.  Mr. Karmin even says that the death of the hawk would be better than having it be under Mr. Horvath’s care.

The removal of the fledgling from the site may have been unnecessary, but once a bird is in a rehabilitator’s hands, the rehabilitator must use his or her judgment about when is the appropriate time to return the bird.  (Mr. Horvath is licensed by the State of New York, by the way.)

The old school of thought was to return a fledgling as soon as possible back to the nest site.  In urban and suburban areas, there is a new school of thought that not rushing a poorly flying fledgling back to the nest area gives a bird a better chance of survival.  Mr. Horvath follows this new school of thought and has been very successful subscribing to it. 

Just look at last year’s example.  Everyone rushed to criticize Mr. Horvath, but his choices worked out correctly.  The 888 Seventh Avenue fledgling did wonderfully after a week’s separation from her parents.

The first few days off the nest are very dangerous for a young hawk.  Especially for a hawk that could not "branch" due to the nature of its urban nest location.  The grounds of the Public Housing Projects on the Lower East Side will be more difficult than normal.  While there are a few fenced in areas, they are much smaller than the fenced in private areas you will find in Central Park.

Let’s let the licensed rehabilitator do his job without harassment.