San Francisco turned off a warning siren for nesting hawk

A red-tailed hawk and chick sit atop a warning siren in San Francisco. The siren was turned off so as not to disturb the nest. A red-tailed hawk and chick sit atop a warning siren in San Francisco. The siren was turned off so as not to disturb the nest. Photo: Copyright © 2015 Rick Prelinger, Courtesy Photo: Copyright © 2015 Rick Prelinger, Courtesy Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close San Francisco turned off a warning siren for nesting hawk 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

San Francisco is the subject of a lot of negative headlines, but here's a lovely little story to cheer up your day.

Marc Weidenbaum of Disquiet recently shared the sweet tale of one city warning siren at Taraval and Great Highway being shut off for the benefit of some sleepy hawk chicks. The siren was turned off several months ago, but the story is just now being told.

Rick Prelinger reported seeing a red-tailed hawk nest atop the emergency siren, used for emergencies in theory and disturbing you every Tuesday at noon in practice. The hawk must not have been around during a noontime drill, because she took up residence there.

"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," Prelinger wrote on his Facebook page.

Prelinger reports it appears the nest is now empty. Hopefully the now-grown hawks (perhaps named Siren and Red Alert) are flying over San Francisco, getting spooked every Tuesday by those dang sirens just like us.