San Francisco Turns Off Sirens to Accommodate Baby Hawks, Redeems Humanity
Hey! Here’s a good, happy story! Wow!
San Francisco’s Department of Emergency Management maintains 119 warning sirens around the city, and every Tuesday at noon they fire those fuckers up to make sure every horn pointed in every direction is operating as intended. But! There is one warning siren that is not tested, because there is a Red-Tailed Hawk nest up there, and the decent people of the Department of Emergency Management don’t want to disturb the chicks.
Rick Prelinger is the founder of the Prelinger Library in San Francisco, and he learned about this wonderful compromise while visiting the Emergency Management folks back in June (via Disquiet):
When I toured the San Francisco Department of Emergency Management on June 16 prior to my communications infrastructure talk that evening at Long Now’s Interval, I was told they’d turned off the emergency siren and speakers at Taraval and Great Highway so as not to disturb a nesting Red-Tailed Hawk. Of course I had to go and see what was going on.
Look at those cute hawks up there. Hell yeah, humans.
Prelinger reported on Sunday that the nest was empty when he last checked. Maybe the chicks, like, grew up! Moved out! Got real jobs!
This is good humaning, humans.
