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.

I heard Flaco early in the evening hooting from near 565 West End Avenue, but couldn’t find him. I explored the neighborhood but didn’t find him and decided to check out other location he’s been visiting and get dinner. I then retuned to West End Avenue and found him on 250 West 90th Street. He hooted for about twenty minutes before he flew to a building at 91st and Riverside before flying south. I couldn’t relocate him.

I have been visiting the Upper West Side on a number of nights and have missed seeing Flaco by an hour or so. He’s got a much larger range now, and it’s easy to be in the right place but the wrong day or time. So, I was delighted that as soon as I got off the M86-SBS bus at the last stop, I immediately heard him. His hoots echo so it took me awhile to find him, but soon I saw him switching between 535 West End Avenue at 86th and 565 West End Avenue at 87th.

Both of these perches have a direct view of the Peregrine Flacon scrape at 86th and West End Avenue. His hooting at this location is a cause of concern. Eurasian Eagle-Owls are known to take over Peregrine Falcon nests in Europe and this has always been a concern with Flaco. (A paper from Germany discusses these issues in great detail.)

While it is rarely discussed on social media, Flaco did actively interfere with the nesting Red-tailed Hawks in Central Park last spring. This included harassment of the San Remo pair, when they tried to relocate their nest to Tanner’s Spring, the pair on Central Park South and the pair at the Museum of the City of New York. While many factors, including the death of at least two adult Red-tailed Hawks (one being Pale Male), contributed to the lack of any breeding raptors in Central Park in 2023, Flaco’s arrival certainly had an impact.

How far will Flaco interfere with Manhattan’s breeding hawks and falcons in 2024? Will his instincts express themselves further or will they remain dormant since he will never find a mate in North America?

Flaco isn’t just a cute, photogenic owl exploring Manhattan. He’s an invasive species, who is an apex predator. His roosting locations on the Upper West Side are very close to two American Kestrel nests, one Peregrine Falcon nest (which is protected by Endangered status in New York State, and has Protected status nationally), and at least one Red-tailed Hawk nest. While Flaco appears to be happy with his rodent based diet, he could easily kill nestlings to declare territory later this year.

Those who want Flaco’s release to be a happy fantasy of an “owl living his best life” may be in for a surprise later this year. As my tour guide in Denali National Park said to me while describing the habits of bear who ate other bear’s cubs, “nature isn’t warm and fuzzy.”

Flaco returned to roosting in the Loch on Saturday. It was nice to see him during the day, at fly out and then explore the Harlem Meer construction site. He dealt with some high winds and falling temperatures. He coughed up a pellet and did his normal stretches, but didn’t do his normal hooting around fly out. I needed to leave early for dinner and couldn’t wait around to watch him hunt.

After many hours of walking around the Upper East Side this last week, I finally was able to catch up with Flaco thanks to Bird Twitter. He was hooting at 90th and Riverside Drive tonight. He mostly faced west, but would occasionally look in other directions. Looking at him stretch, it looks like he has lost two primary feathers on his right wing.

Flaco has been reported lots of places over the last few weeks, and when I follow up on tips, I seem to miss him by a few hours or a day. He’s been on the Asonia at 74th and Broadway, a building at West End Avenue at 85th, and in Central Park at 84th and the West Drive. People have also reported hearing him in the 90’s between Park Avenue and Fifth Avenue.

He’s been close to both an American Kestrel scrape and Peregrine Falcon scrape. This may be because both are in prime locations, or he could be being competitive with them. It will be interesting to see how this develops come spring. Flaco was very aggressive with Central Park’s Red-tailed Hawks this summer.

Despite all of the “bright side” happy news about Flaco, he is an invasive species. He may do some real damage. It will be interesting to see what the NYS DEC does if he interferes with a Peregrine Falcon nest. Peregrine Falcons are a protected species in New York state.