The Red Tails were most often spotted from my apartment overlooking upper Central Park where they seemed to nest. Adult hawks were frequently to be seen gliding above the park or perched on the rooves of nearby buildings.

The Peregrines were real city dwellers and one falcon family lived at the top of a tall building at Park Avenue at 57th Street which was visible from my office. One afternoon about a decade ago I was idly gazing out my 25th-floor window overlooking Park Avenue, watching a pigeon which was making its way uptown 20 stories above the cacophony of the midtown streets. Suddenly from on high to the left, in a burst of feathers a Peregrine struck the pigeon in the back. The pigeon struggled feebly, trying to shrug the falcon of its back, as the two birds, now attached to each other as one, continued the flight uptown. But the Peregrine gave the pigeon a couple of mighty shakes, as though she were shaking out a towel, and the pigeon went limp in a second release of feathers. Prey firmly in hand, the falcon then soared to her aerie 50 stories above midtown, presumably to share her catch with her young.