By Yepoka Yeebo
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
UPPER EAST SIDE — Famous New York raptor Pale Male could be responsible for New York's total population of Red Tailed Hawks, according to a filmmaker who has been studying him.
The bird has fathered 23 chicks with different partners, populating the five boroughs with dozens of offspring.
But Frederic Lilien, who made a documentary about Pale Male, told the New York Post the bird could be at the head of the family tree for all of the city's 40 pairs of hawks.
Eight pairs live between Inwood Hill Park and Central Park in Manhattan, according to Lilien.
Pale Male and his current partner Lola, who famously took up residence on 927 Fifth Avenue, at East 74th Street, and raised seven chicks before the co-op board evicted them, haven't reproduced since.
Although the co-op board later installed a cradle-like-structure to encourage the couple to rebuild the nest, bird watchers blame their housing troubles for their lack of eggs.
The pair live between their Upper East Side breeding ground and The Beresford apartments on Central Park West and 81st street, according to PaleMale.com.
Lilien's documentary, "The Legend of Pale Male," opens Wednesday at the Angelika Film Center.
