After days of rain, and a few attempts to find Flaco in the evening when their were breaks in the rain, it was nice to see him on Tuesday evening.

He was in on of his normal roost trees and flew out to a lamp post. He got mobbed by a bird and decided to return to a branch on his roost tree before flying south. He flew quickly to the construction site. He’s been exploring the inside of the building, and was on an orange lift, before flying out of the building to a little mound of dirt. He then flew up to a pipe inside the building where we could only see his tail and feet.

The night watchman disturbed him and he flew out of the building and around the construction site. He ended up just north of Nutter’s Battery and hooted for over an hour. Eventually, he flew south and we could not relocate him.

I saw Flaco twice on Thursday, once in the afternoon and again in the evening.

In the afternoon, he was a stop before I went to see the two Green-winged Teals that were on The Pool with a group of newly arrived Gadwalls. He was comfortable roosting in an oak tree. Construction has started on the Recreation Center, and this might be changing his choice of roosting locations.

In the evening, I caught up with him at the construction site for the new rink/pool by the Harlem Meer. He was often on the ground, equipment or a barricade. He also was on the roof, on the steps and under the construction trailer. He also hooted.

He got flushed by the night watchman, while hooting and then ended up hooting from a tree east of the constructions site. Since he’s often gone out of the construction site and up to the compost heap, the three of us watching him made the hike up the hill to look for him. It was late, so everyone decided to go home. I left via the constructions site, as I can catch my bus from 110th Street.

On my way out, with my camera equipment in my bag, I saw that he had returned to the construction site. But he was inside the new building on a stack of metal ducts waiting to be installed wrapped in a blue film. He then flew around the inside of the building. He was hidden most of the time, but I got to see him on four perches. I was still setting up my camera, so my video was at times shaky or out of focus, but it was fascinating to see him inside the building. So, on this night Flaco was a Building Inspector.

Flaco’s been rushing north after fly out the last week. He did this again on Wednesday night. He went north to the compost heap and then further north to a tree along the East Drive. We saw him move and then thought he had go to the construction site along the south shore of the Harlem Meer, but it turned out he had just moved within the tree. We only relocated him because he hooted.

He then looped around the compost area, and eventually went to the construction site.

The site has two levels. A roof/walkway that will allow the public to walk from Nutter’s Battery to the Huddlestone Arch at the north end of the Loch. It will have an overlook down to the pool/rink. At ground level, there is a building and an outside deck has taken form but still has a long way to go, and the actual rink/pool which has yet to be fabricated. There will also be a stream, restoring the previous one that flowed from the Loch to the Harlem Meer.

Over the last month, enough work has been done to allow the night watchman for the construction to now go over the roof walkway, through the building and then check on the equipment located where the rink/pool will eventually be built. However this means that while making his rounds, he sometimes flushes Flaco. Now that the route is longer, Flaco seems to be getting flushed more often.

This happened tonight and the last time he got flushed, we couldn’t relocate him. He has a tree he can hide in, but we didn’t find him in it.

Flaco is returning to a pattern he followed in the late spring, of exploring the construction site and then moving on to the compost heap. He’s continuing to hoot but later in the evening than he did in the spring.

After the skies cleared, and a rainbow appeared over the North Meadow, I found Flaco at the Construction site once again. He flew to numerous perches, picked at some entrails and hooted. He was unfazed by the night watchman.

I came into the park after fly out and after some searching found Flaco at the construction site by the Harlem Meer. He moved around a few times and then ended up on a railing where he hooted. I haven’t hear him hoot from within the construction site since the spring, so this was a nice surprise.

Four dirt bikes drove along the West Drive and he moved to a tree near Nutter’s Battery and continued hooting. By the time I got to the Battery, he had stopped hooting. I made my way to the Compost Heap, and he wasn’t there. I was ready to pack it in for the evening. But then out of nowhere, he flew to one of his favorite perches.

He briefly went to a high pile of dirt, before returning to his tree. Two police cars were at the Compost Heap and as they left for their shift change, they stopped to look at Flaco. One officer asked me if their patrol cars bothered Flaco, and I explained not usually, except when they were rushing to respond to a call. It was nice to know the park police are interested in Flaco’s welfare. I told them what had spooked him this evening was four dirt bikes and the officer’s reaction was to apologize. He expressed his frustration that the dirt bikes where outsmarting them, because chasing after them could lead to injuries of the public or the riders, there wasn’t much they could do safely.

When the police left Flaco went to a Black Locust and hooted for over an hour. Those of us who are watching him are trying to figure out what’s triggering the resumption of hooting. Is he defending his territory during migration? Does he think there might be a female Eurasian Eagle-Owl moving through? Or are the shorter days having an effect? We can only wonder what the cause is at this point.

He was also sneezing. Something I don’t remember seeing or hearing before. It was hard to record, but a delightful sound to hear.