Eurasian Eagle-Owl, Day & Night 53
Flaco hooted both during the day and the evening on Sunday. His extensive hooting during the evening is now well known to the late evening Harlem Meer dog walkers!
Eurasian Eagle-Owl, Night 51
I didn’t have a chance to see Flaco during the day. After dinner, I went to Central Park to see if I could find him. He had spent much of the early evening in the construction site, and a few individuals who had watched him had lost track of him by the time I arrived. We searched and searched, and finally due to his hooting, we found him. He was in a tree at the northern end of the construction site with a view of the Harlem Meer.
We lost track of him again as he returned to the center of the construction site. Almost giving up on him, I heard noises in a tree at Nutter’s Battery, which overlooks the Harlem Meer. He had landed oddly and was working to get to a better branch. He then flew to a nearby tree and began hooting. The sound carried to the north shore of the Harlem Meer, where intoxicated New Yorkers cutting through the park on their way home, hooted back every few minutes.
After about fifteen minutes, he moved to a tree fifty feet to the east and continued hooting. I stayed with him for about twenty minutes, but it was now past midnight so I called it a night.
Eurasian Eagle-Owl, Day 50
The rain held off on Thursday afternoon and evening, so I was able to spend about seven hours with him. He seems to explore his territory for about an hour before settling down. Last night, he patiently sat on the ground for hours. I suspect that with the abundant rodent population of the park, he can spend a lot of time just “hanging out”.
After fly out he spent time in the construction site before heading south.
Museum of the City of New York Nest
On Thursday afternoon, I got to see the male visit the MCNY nest a few times, and watch the pair copulate twice in a tree just inside the park.
The male had a small rodent, which he offered to the female. She wasn’t interested in it, so he ate it. This is very typical of Red-tailed Hawk behavior. Before copulating, the male often offers a snack!
Eurasian Eagle-Owl, Day 49
There are nights when you loose an owl after fly out in a few minutes and nights where you can stay with an owl for a few hours. Tonight, I was able to track Flaco until about 9:45 pm. He hadn’t been paying attention to me, but around 9:30 pm he started staring at me. Not wanting to interfere with his hunting, I decided it was time to go home, just to be on the safe side.
Eurasian Eagle-Owl, Day 48
It was a fairly normal afternoon with Flaco on Tuesday. He’s been going to a new hunting spot in the evenings, one that has been popular with our other Bubo’s, the Snowy Owl two years ago and our resident Great Horned Owl.
