Janet Schulman crafted a beautiful story of the red-tailed hawk, Pale Male, that became one of the most famous "citizens" of NYC.
Hawks do not usually remain in large cities...but Pale Male was different. He stayed in Central Park while most other hawks would have moved on. Then another red-tailed hawk came to the park and the two started a courtship.
The book tells the story of how Pale Male started out in Central Park with one mate, failed, found a new mate, and started building in the high-rise buildings of NYC. Obstacles came to them every step of the way, but some legislation protected them for a time. Their family grew. The city loved their hawk family!
Then some of the legislation was relaxed...the hawk's nest was removed to add pigeon spikes when they migrated for the winter. Protests caused problems for the apartment on Fifth Avenue where Pale Male nested every year. Finally, the spikes to keep pigeons away were removed, and Pale Male rebuilt his nest.
Pale Male is a true citizen of New York City.
This is another great example of a narrow focus for a story that is nonfiction. Janet Schulman chose to write this story because of her love of the wildlife in Central Park...especially Pale Male.