Pale Male warmed New Yorkers’ cold hearts before taking final flight

He was the Big Apple’s first boldface bird.

Pale Male, a celebrated red-tailed hawk who made his nest on the facade of a ritzy Upper East Side apartment building, ushering in a widespread appreciation for urban wildlife, died Tuesday.

He was believed to be about 33.

“Pale Male was such a character and so charismatic,” Jessica Wilson, the executive director of New York City Audubon, told The Post.

“He really captivated New Yorkers for decades.”

He was the subject of numerous books and of an award-winning documentary narrated by celebrity superfan — and Fifth Avenue neighbor — Mary Tyler Moore, while his active love life was well-chronicled in the media.

The bird of prey was so beloved that when the fancy co-op at 927 Fifth Ave. evicted him and his then-mate Lola in 2004, it sparked protests.

“Pale Male popularized bird watching and really woke up New Yorkers to the urban biodiversity here in the city,” said Wilson.

According to wildlife rehabilitator Bobby Horvath, Pale Male was found sick in Central Park on Monday. Despite efforts to nurse him back to health, the elderly hawk died the next day due to “severe renal failure likely due to age. It was beyond treating or reversing the condition,” Horvath wrote on Facebook.

“We hoped for any improvement but sadly it was not meant to be.”

Pale Male was first spotted in 1991 as an immature hawk in Central Park and received his name from Wall Street Journal columnist and birder Marie Winn, who noted his light-colored plumage. She later wrote a book about him called “Red-Tails in Love” in 1999.

Wilson estimates the city now has at least 15 breeding pairs in Manhattan, several of which are likely related to Pale Male. But he was a real-estate pioneer and one of the few red-tailed hawks to make the Big Apple his permanent home in the early ’90s.

He built his nest on the 12th floor ledge at 927 Fifth; following the thwarted eviction attempt, Pale Male and Lola were welcomed back and a metal cradle was installed to hold the nest.

Pale Male was an icon well before other winged friends tickled New Yorkers, including the “Hot” Mandarin duck, who appeared in Central Park in 2018; Barry the barred owl, who had her own Twitter account before she died in 2021; and Rover the bald eagle, who was spotted in Central Park in January 2022. And finally Flaco, the Eurasian eagle-owl who escaped from the Central Park Zoo last winter, is now living on his own in the park — with his former keepers’ blessing.

But the announcement of Pale Male’s death has ruffled some feathers within the birding community. Some believe that this is not the original Pale Male, whom they argue must have died years ago.

The average lifespan of a hawk is 20 years, and Pale Male was never banded.

Wilson said she knows people who religiously watched Pale Male and vouched that this is the original.

“While it would be unusual for a red tail hawk [to live this long],” said Wilson, “there is enough evidence to believe it’s Pale Male.”