I spent the early part of the evening stuffing envelopes for the Linnaean Society of New York’s Annual Mailing, and got to the park late in the evening. Flaco had already been observed catching four rodents! While I was with him he made one hunting attempt, but otherwise seemed to be relaxing.
Wednesday, marked the six month anniversary of Flaco’s release by a vandal. It’s good to see that he has beaten the odds against zoo escapes, and has survived.
Over the last few weeks, he’s been exploring a larger area and changing up his roosting locations. Tonight he appeared at the compost heap from the west, but it is still unclear where his new roost site is. At the compost heap he didn’t hunt, but flew back and forth between two trees before going to a Black Locust.
He hooted in the Black Locust, just like had done earlier in the year. He then flew south. We were unable to relocate him. So, we’ve ended up with a lot of questions about where he’s roosting, where he’s going, etc. Hopefully, we’ll get some answers soon.
Flaco returned to the roost site he had been using the last few weeks after roosting elsewhere for two nights. He hooted before he flew out which was fun to hear. He’s been very quite for the last month.
He also surprised us by going north rather than south after fly out. A number of folks searched for him, and I found him after 11 pm in one of his favorite Compost Heap trees. He caught a rat and ate it quickly.
I found Flaco late in the evening on a streetlight on the West Drive. He hunted on either side of the drive, making a few low passes over the drive. He explored many of the locations the Red-tailed Hawk pair, which tried to nest on Central Park West in the ’90s used a few years ago, including a swing set in the Tarr-Coyne Wild West Playground.
Just when you think you know Flaco’s habits, he changed things up on you. It’s what makes watching him so enjoyable after almost six months. On Sunday night, he wasn’t in his normal roost tree and couldn’t be located. Then a number of folks searched for a few hours in the trees and meadows he’s been hunting in and couldn’t find him.
After 10 pm, he finally showed up on a Tennis Court fence but only stayed there for a few minutes. With only two observers looking for him, we had troubles relocating him. But, then he appeared in the middle of a park walkway in plain sight. He got spooked by a jogger but we were able to relocate him and stay with him until the park closed at 1 am.
He was in what I would have thought was a too open area, but he was comfortable making a number of hunting passes and caught at least one rodent, which he ate on a Tennis Court fence.
After last night’s adventure in the hot weather, where Flaco explored the Tennis Courts, we ended up with a completely different night. He was much more relaxed in the cooler temperatures. He perched in two trees for hours and would periodically swoop down and catch a rodent. It looked like he was catching White-footed Mice based on their size, and he ate each one quickly, in giant gulps. By the time he settled down around midnight, he had caught four rodents.
I made a simple error that prevented me from getting a recording of him eating in good light. Otherwise it was too dark to get any good images. But it was fun to watch him make so many hunting runs and do so well at catching his prey. I think he missed only two times.
