The Long-eared Owls often would fly from their roost tree to a thicket of saplings between the nursery and the compost heap. They would then fly to the ground on a hill on the east side of the compost area and back into the saplings on the east and south sides of the area.
This was the first time I’d seen Long-eared Owls on the ground and it was a thrill to see the behavior.
Flaco was hooting from backside of buildings on Riverside Drive between 89th and 90th and then on 250 West 90th Street when I went to look for him. Eventually he flew north, possibly to hunt in a courtyard.
February 2nd marks the first anniversary of the vandalism that released him from his cage in the zoo. I suspect we’ll see lots of stories in the news media about how wonderful it is that Flaco has survived in the city. But I doubt we’ll see much real journalism. Individuals, institutions and the media have time and time again put their self interests over Flaco’s welfare.
It’s been amazing to get to know Flaco over the last year. He is stunningly beautiful and studying his behavior has been fascinating. And of course, his ability to survive in Manhattan has surprised everyone. But the story is much more complicated than a caged bird, now free to explore the world.
Flaco is living a life in purgatory now. He is in a dangerous environment without any chance of interacting with other of his species. And he could easily become a threat to local species.
No native Eurasian Eagle-Owl hoots as much as Flaco does. He’s confused. Sadly there may be now happy ending to this story. Unless he returned to Central Park in the spring, it would be difficult to capture him and place him in a sanctuary.
Folks can love him to death on social media, but it won’t keep him from dying prematurely from rodenticides.
The two Long-eared Owls, who had been seen hunting in the Compost Heap area on previous nights, choose to use the slope around the rear of the Butterfly Meadow to look for rodents before flying across the road at 103rd and into the darkness of the Loch.
Fall, Winter and early spring usually have sparatic sightings of native owls visiting Central Park. Except for one sighting of a Great Horned Owl in flight, we had none so far this season. So it was great that we had a pair of Long-eared Owls arrive in the park.
But because we’ve had so few sightings and because of publicity about these owls they were quickly over birded. On the first weekend, there were over thirty people surrounding their roost tree. So, I like many photographers who love owls, choose not to post their pictures of these owls until after they left the park.
I arrived after having dinner with friends to hear Flaco from West End Avenue around 88th Street. I couldn’t find him, as his sound echos making it hard to find him, but I did see him fly out towards 90th Street. He hooted for hours from 250 West 90th, using three locations on the building. My video from the night is short. The street noise from Broadway and the questions from many curious New Yorkers, made if difficult to record him hooting.
Flaco continues to roost and hoot after fly out around West End Avenue in the upper 80s and lower 90s. He spent most of the evening on 250 West 90th again, but also explored a few water tanks and other perches. He was in a fog bank for about twenty minutes and in one of the pictures below you can see his missing and damaged primary feathers on his right wing.
