Urban Hawks

I had dinner before coming to the park, so I missed his fly out from a new roost tree. But I did get to see him get his dinner. On some nights he’s been eating small rodents, most likely White-footed Mice or juvenile Brown Rats which he eats whole. Tonight it was a mature Brown Rat. These take some time to eat.

He hunted from his favorite branch, and picked at the rat on the ground before flying off to a nearby tree. He was hot after flying, paused to cool down and then ate the rat. Once he got it to a smaller size, he ate what was left in a single gulp.

After finishing, he went to a tree over looking a path, and then flew east. We couldn’t find him again.

The afternoon’s rain stopped just before fly out. However, Flaco made it difficult to follow him on Thursday night. There was a mist in the air and he changed up his habits from the last few days. He seemed to stay near his roost site before going south much longer than normal. We lost track of him during this period for over an hour. I wondered if he needed to dry out before making any long flights.

He did reappear perching briefly on a bridge and then a tree. But we then lost him again.

But evenings like this are to be expected owl watching. Tracking an owl in Central Park isn’t easy!

Tonight started off slow, and then go interesting. Flaco flew out fairly normally, making a few hops in his roost American Elm before flying out. But then he quickly moved away from the nest.

I picked him up going to a bunch of London Plane trees but lost track of him. We looked for him in his normal perches but couldn’t find him. It turned out he had never left the London Planes and was in a lower brach on one of them!

He stayed on the branch for what seemed like hours, but certainly wasn’t. From there he led us to a fence, the roof of the Tennis Court building, a lawn, then Bridge No. 28, back to his preferred lawn where he perched on a tree and then caught a rat on the lawn. After awhile he then went to his favorite perch of the last few weeks.

Flaco was in wonderful light before fly out. He hooted for an extended period, and did some wonderful stretches.

His first stop before heading south was a visit to a Grey Squirrel’s drey. He poked at it with his beak a few times as a squirrel looked on. Eurasian Eagle-Owls are known to raid nests aggressively, and I can only wonder if these instincts are being awakened in Flaco.

After the visit to the drey, Flaco flew south. In the beginning of the evening, things were a bit dull. He just perched on a few branches. Later on, he flew out of the protective lawn area he’s been using, to trees on both sides of the West Drive. He went to trees we’ve seen him in before but also some new perches.

After fly out Flaco made two stops before crossing the transverse. He arrived at the lawn he’s been hunting in to find two folks who had ignored the park employees requests to leave. So, we perched in a tree and waited for them to leave. He hunted a few times, but we didn’t see him catch anything.

Around midnight he finally went to the ground, then a low perch before flying off to a fence near a bridle path. But then he just few back to a tree he usually goes to eat.

Saturday evening was interesting. Flaco was in his normal roost tree, an American Elm before fly out. He hopped to a few branches in the tree before flying out and then went due west quickly. We lost track of him. But about a half hour later, he appeared on his “hunting branch”, which he’s been using for the last few weeks the overlooks a lawn which is locked at night.

He caught two rodents. The area has a mix of Brown Rats and White-footed Mice (or if you’re a purist about how to make scientific names plural, White-footed Mouses), so it’s hard to tell if he has a mouse or a juvenile rat.

After 10 pm, without any warning and without him being flushed by anyone, he flew aggressively to the north. We explored his know locations up north but came up empty. The park’s Great Horned Owl has been moving around lately, and fall migration has started, so we wondered if he was tracking another bird.