Urban Hawks

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.

After fly out, Flaco explored Baseball and Soccer fields for a few hours before he gave us the slip. The theme for the evening was backstops and soccer goals.