MANHATTAN — Lower East Side residents are keeping one eye on the sky these days to catch a glimpse of red-tailed hawks patrolling the trendy neighborhood.
Sightings of the birds have gone up since they were first discovered in the area in 2008.
"These birds are so powerful and so beautiful, how can you not be inspired?" janitor Bill Tatton told the New York Daily News.
Tatton said he was the first to spot the feathered predators living on a fifth-floor air conditioning unit at PS 9-4/188 on East Houston two years ago.
The birds, which nest in high places, feed on small animals such as pigeons and rats. While most residents are happy to have the birds flying about the neighborhood, others are careful not to give them any additional meal options.
“People who walk their little dogs are always looking out for hawks,” Lower East Side resident Johnny Reyes told the News.
The Lower East Side isn't the only Manhattan neighborhood these birds call home.
As of 2007, 32 nesting pairs of red-tailed hawks were identified across the city, the News reported.
"The hawks who are able to successfully nest and reproduce and find good hunting tend to stay," Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe told the News. "In recent memory, there have never been more hawks than there are now in the most unusual of places.”
