Before he first spotted the red tail feathers of Pale Male fluttering from Central Park trees to the cornices of posh Upper East Side co-ops, Lincoln Karim, 43, a mild-mannered Associated Press video engineer from Trinidad, never had an interest in watching birds fly. But something in the city’s most celebrated – and now contested – hawk inspired him, Mr. Karim’s close friends said yesterday.

The hawk touched him so deeply that he began to dedicate his free time to documenting the bird’s life and sharing its story of urban survival with others. A Web site – palemale.com – was made. A six-year documentary – “Pale Male” – was produced. Many days, Mr. Karim could be found in Central Park with a telescope attached to a television monitor chasing the bird around. Some days he would visit schools for guest lectures.

“He fell in love with Pale Male,” one friend, Frederic Lilien, director of the prize-winning “Pale Male,” said of Mr. Karim.

That love affair took a disturbing turn Tuesday night when, after days of animated protests demanding the bird’s return to its longtime nest on the cornice of 927 Fifth Ave., Mr. Karim was arrested for endangering the welfare of a child, stalking, and aggravated harassment.

According to police, Mr. Karim broke free from the group of picketing demonstrators and began to shout menacing words at the children of one of the building’s board members, CNN news anchor Paula Zahn. Ms. Zahn is married to real estate developer Richard Cohen, who heads the co-op board that ordered the removal of Pale Male’s nest after citing complaints of the hawk’s leftover meals – namely the carcasses of rats – strewn about Fifth Avenue.

After spending the night in the Lower Manhattan prison known as “the Tombs,” Mr. Karim appeared in criminal court yesterday where he was arraigned on the charges and issued a restraining order. The order says he must keep 1,000 feet away from Ms. Zahn’s family and the building itself. He is due back in court January 26.

“I’m sorry, I knew I shouldn’t have gone after the kids,” Mr. Karim told detectives upon his arrest, according to a statement read by prosecutors in criminal court yesterday. “I was just trying to get my point across.”

A spokesperson for CNN declined to comment. A spokeswoman for The Associated Press, Laurie Morris, also declined to comment, saying only, “We take this matter seriously, and we’re trying to learn more.”

Mr. Karim declined to speak with reporters after his arraignment. He then disappeared into 52 Duane St., where the office of his attorney, Dino Lombardi, is located.

It seemed bizarre that after years of peaceful devotion to Pale Male Mr. Karim would somehow find himself in prison for harassing the children of a newscaster, Mr. Lilien said. Then again, he said, the protests in support of the bird’s return seemed to have gotten out of hand and had begun to border on the absurd.

“He didn’t want to hurt anyone,” Mr. Lilien said of Mr. Karim’s intentions. “He just wanted them to put the spikes back.”