Flaco spent his first few hours after fly out, within 75 yards of his roost site on Wednesday night. It was unexpected as he has been flying much further to hunt in the last few days. He went to the ground a few times and event went inside a bush looking for rodents twice, where he caught one on the second try.
On Thursday night, Flaco quickly flew to the construction site for the new rink/pool. He perched on a variety of contraction machines and a railing above the site.
I arrived late on Wednesday, only to find that Flaco was in no rush to fly out for the evening. He had cached a rodent on his roost and had eaten it during the day, so I guess he felt he could get some extra shut eye.
He explored the ball fields and then caught a Brown Rat nearby, and then returned to the ball fields to eat.
Tuesday was a wonderful night to observe Flaco, but it was also a frustrating night, as the gates to the North Meadow were left open instead of being closed at dusk. This meant lots of folks ended up flushing Flaco moving him around and disrupting his hunting and eating.
When Flaco was able to catch a Brown Rat, he didn’t kill it immediately. It was almost as though he was surprised it was still alive. (Cats will play with prey, but I don’t think this was the case here. I think Flaco might have been more concerned with figuring out how to safely kill the rat without getting bitten.)
He ended up having folks disrupt him multiple times while trying to eat and once had to leave his prey. He waited 45 minutes before returning for it. Even after midnight, he hadn’t been able to eat much of it.
We got our steps in tonight watching Flaco. He went as far as the West Drive and 100th Street before returning to almost where he started. At times he was hunting but at some points he seemed to be patrolling. He caught a Brown Rat and when he left seemed to be digesting as he seemed content to stay on his post-meal perch.
I’ve been watching Flaco, but haven’t been posting over the last few days. Wednesday, he flew out and quickly went north. On Thursday, after the rain I couldn’t find him.
On Friday, he quickly few out and he was found in the construction site. It was too difficult to photograph him, but he ended up hunting inside the new building. I saw him fly back and forth inside the building twice, but was unable to capture any images. He perched out of view. But it was fascinating to know that he was hunting Inside the new building.
Yesterday, I arrived after fly out. He had already begun hunting on the North Meadow. He caught a Brown Rat by basically walking into some bushes and then went to an infield between 2nd and 3rd base to eat the rat. He waddled around the field, much like the Snowy Owl did a few years ago. After eating, he went to a backstop and then flew out of sight.
