All eyes to the sky in lower East Side: Two red-tailed hawks captivate locals

[Donna]

Red-tailed hawks that like to swoop around the lower East Side are captivating the local humans.

Lorraine Sepulveda, 53, a mother of five who has been "stalking" the majestic birds for two years, said she saw one perched up on the roof of a building at E. Houston St. and Avenue D on Sunday, "just hanging out like a superhero."

"I said, 'Omigod! I've been looking for you,'" recalled Sepulveda, who said she bought a pair of binoculars just to keep track of her feathered friends from her apartment at the Baruch Houses.

Johnny Reyes, 18, a neighborhood resident who has dubbed the hawks "the sky beasts," said, "They come down and they eat squirrels, rats, birds.

"People who walk their little dogs are always looking out for the hawks."

Hawks first appeared in the neighborhood in spring 2008, when two of them built a nest for their three fledglings.

Their choice location was a fifth-floor air-conditioning unit at Public Schools 9-4/188 on E. Houston St., according to school custodian and bird enthusiast Bill Tatton.

After losing the male hawk and two chicks to bacteria contracted from what Tatton calls "bad pigeon," the two surviving hawks left their nest but remained in the neighborhood, flying around to hunt for food.

Tatton has documented the hawks' presence with photos over the past two years.

"These birds are so powerful and so beautiful, how can you not be inspired?" said Tatton, 53, of Pelham Bay, the Bronx.

So far no one has attempted to name the powerful birds.

"I wouldn't go as so far as to give a bird of prey a nickname," said Tatton.

As of 2007, 32 nesting pairs of red-tailed hawks were identified across the city, with many more of the species, possibly hundreds, passing through the five boroughs each year, according to Sarah Aucoin, director of the Urban Park Rangers.

The most famous city pair were Pale Male and Lola, who roosted on the upper East Side.

"The hawks who are able to successfully nest and reproduce and find good hunting tend to stay," said city Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe.

"In recent memory, there have never been more hawks than there are now in the most unusual of places," Benepe added.

How appropriate he sits by the American flag.