Category: Eurasian Eagle-Owl

927 5th Avenue Red-tailed Hawks, Bats, Central Park Coyotes, Central Park Snowy Owl 2021, Eurasian Eagle-Owl, General News, Other Animals, Other Birds, Owls, Red-tailed Hawk Nest Updates

Central Park in the Dark Revisited

From about 2005 to about 2009, I had a wonderful time getting to know Maire Winn and her friends, affectionately known as “The Regulars”. During the daytime they mainly watched Pale Male, his mates and their offspring. After dark, I would join them on their nocturnal adventures, observing owls, insects, and mammals. They were passionate naturalists who were thrilled to learn about the natural world through field work and research.

My fondest memories of the gang were our owl-watching adventures. Each time we spotted an owl, we discovered something new about these fascinating creatures.

Shortly after the publication of her last book, Central Park in the Dark in 2008, Marie and her friends stopped visiting the park regularly. Two of “The Regulars” had passed away, others faced health challenges, and one happily fell in love and moved to Florida.

Marie Winn passed away at the end of 2024.

She updated her book about Pale Male, his mates, and their offspring, Red-tailed in Love, for a tenth anniversary edition. I’ve often wonder what a sequel to or a revised edition of Central Park in the Dark would have included, if Marie and her friends had been able to continue their nocturnal prowls in Central Park.

The subtitle of Central Park in the Dark was “More Mysteries of Urban Wildlife.” Marie Winn, an accomplished nature writer, described the park’s wildlife through captivating adventure stories that showcased both the observers and their discoveries. Without resorting to heavy-handed explanations, Winn imparted valuable lessons about how to be a naturalist. She demonstrated how to harness one’s innate curiosity and embark on a journey of discovery, exploration, and research. Winn also illustrated the iterative nature of scientific inquiry, where initial hypotheses are refined or discarded based on new discoveries.

Since the book’s publication, the park has welcomed a new wave of visitors. In the past 17 years, we’ve had two extraordinary owls: a rare Snowy Owl and a non-native Eurasian Eagle-Owl that was released from the Central Park Zoo. Additionally, we’ve had extended stays by Northern Saw-whet Owls, a Barred Owl, a Great Horned Owl, and most recently American Barn Owls. Each of these owls would have deserved its own chapter in a new or revised book.

Other nocturnal birds, such as Black-crowned Night-Herons (who regularly feast on the park’s buffet of Brown Rats), Nightjars, and American Woodcocks, are also being observed more closely at night. These birds would have been described as antidotes sprinkled throughout the new chapters.

The park has also seen some new mammals. Eastern Cottontail Rabbits have become common, appearing around the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. After three brief visits by coyotes over a decade ago, we now have a pair of resident Eastern Coyotes. Southern Flying Squirrels are being seen regularly with the aid of thermal monoculars. In a revision edition or sequel of the book, I’m sure flying squirrels and rabbits would have each gotten a new chapter, while the coyotes might have required multiple chapters.

Since the book’s publication, technology advancements have greatly aided nocturnal observations.

  • Digital cameras now enable photographers to capture wildlife in extremely low light conditions.
  • High-resolution thermal monoculars have become available, enabling naturalists to locate and identify flying squirrels, owls and coyotes even in complete darkness.
  • Bat detectors have advanced significantly, with devices like the Wildlife Acoustics Echo Meter Touch 2 that plug into smartphones, allowing users to easily hear bat echolocations and automatically identifies the bat species.
  • Smartphone apps such as Merlin (sound and photo identification), iNaturalist (a peer-to-peer naturalist community), and Sky Guide (a star and planet guide) have simplified the process of identifying birds by sound or photographs, identifying plants, insects and animals, and observing the night sky.

I’m certain Marie and her friends would have been thrilled to embrace these new technologies. Any new stories or revisions of older ones would have included mentions of these innovative tools.

A revised edition of or a sequel to Central Park in the Dark would have most likely included the following updates to existing chapters or additional new chapters.

Marie’s first chapter, “Party-Crashers and Flying Mammals”, includes notes about the Red-tailed Hawks, Pale Male and Lola, along with antidotes about raccoons and bats. Each of these topics would have received updates.

  • While the nest was returned to 927 Fifth Avenue, due in large part to Marie Winn’s advocacy, Pale Male and Lola’s nests failed. Eggs were laid, but they did not hatch. It led to a lot of discussion and second guessing about the cradle that had been installed to support the new nest.
    In the end, it turned out Lola had become infertile. When Lola died and Pale Male mated again, there were eyasses (hawk chicks) once more. This resulted in several successful clutches before the nest was unproductive once again. Eventually Pale Male passed away. Marie would have written beautifully about this post-Lola era and published a wonderful obituary about Pale Male’s life.
  • Raccoons, which are written about benevolently, became a problem in 2009-2010 due to a rabies outbreak that ended up with two people being bitten, a person walking a dog, and hot dog vendor. Over one hundred raccoons were found dead, and others were euthanized. Thankfully, many were saved from infection through a vaccination program.
    Unfortunately, due to poor trash management and park patrons feeding the raccoons, raccoons and gray squirrels are overpopulated in the park, displacing birds and other animals that use tree cavities. Raccoons are a more complicated subject than the few pages they received in Marie’s book.
  • Studying the park’s bats became much easier with the introduction of Wildlife Acoustics Echo Meter Touch 2 device. The meter attaches to a smartphone and listens for a bat’s echolocation. Using software, the meters determine the species of bat based on its echolocation pitch and pulse rate. No longer is tagging along with a BioBlitz necessary; anyone can now easily identify the park’s bats.
    Since Marie’s book was published White-Nose Syndrome has decimated the Little-brown Bat population and reduced the number of Big-brown Bats. However, bats continue to be abundant during the warmer months and are easy to spot.
    At the Conservatory Water (also known as Model Boat Pond), on late summer evenings, Chimney swifts feed on insects and drink before roosting in a nearby Fifth Avenue Chimney. As darkness sets in, the swifts are replaced by feeding bats. The Eastern Red Bats are the first to arrive, followed by Silver-haired Bats, Big Brown Bats, and Tricolored Bats. It’s a delightful evening, and I’m certain Marie and her friends would have enjoyed adding this to their nocturnal activities in Central Park.

Marie’s second chapter, “The Ghost of Charles”, includes notes about numerous owl species, owl ethics, flying squirrels, and white-footed mice. (I regret to say that I started birding a year after Charles Kennedy passed away and never had the opportunity to meet him. From all accounts, he was an incredible person.)

  • Owls would have certainly warranted many new chapters. Numerous Northern Saw-whet Owls the Barred Owl that was named Barry and the Great Horned Owl, Gerald(ine) with a damaged leg, the once-in-a-century Snowy Owl visit during COVID-19, Flaco, the Eurasian-Eagle Owl released from the zoo, and the American Barn Owls of 2025-2026 are some of the notable owls that resided in Central Park over the recent years.
  • Owl ethics have become a challenging and divisive issue in Central Park. Social media facilitated the rapid sharing of owl locations, and social media influencers exploited owls to boost their feeds. The “celebrity bird” phenomenon led to crowds gathering around certain owls, leading to their harassment. When wild animals are used for entertainment, humans unfortunately often exploit them.
    Additionally, people often respond to wildlife as though they are pets, leading to unintended consequences such as feeding harmful food to the animals or the unwise protection of invasive species such as feral cats. It’s a complex issue.
    Central Park in the Dark was a lighthearted story. In a revision, discussing ethics wouldn’t be a lecture in a dedicated chapter. However, I suspect Marie would have added a few paragraphs here and there to illustrate the problems and challenge readers to reflect on their own ethics.
  • In this chapter, flying squirrels are described as almost mythical creatures in a few paragraphs. Thermal monoculars have made it possible to finally study them. The park is home to numerous Southern Flying Squirrels making them a subject worthy of a new chapter.

Chapters three through six primarily discuss moths and insects, but they also mention Black Skimmers, Astronomy, and Kingbirds.

  • Studying moths became easier in recent years. While used copies of Covell’s Moths guidebook can still be found for sale online, applications such as iNaturalist has made it much easier to network with other amateur Lepidopterists to identify moths.
  • Black Skimmers continued to appear, but more rarely. They used the Conservatory Water, also known as The Model Boat Pond, for a few years before the Central Park Conservancy began adding dye to the water annually. Most sightings are now on The Lake, often with the skimmers going under Bow Bridge.
  • Eastern Kingbirds continue to nest on the west side of Turtle Pond, usually having two or three offspring each year.
  • Astronomy remains an activity in Central Park, with notable events such as supermoons, planet convergences, comets, and eclipses. New smartphone apps, such as Sky Guide, make it easier to identify planets and constellations.

Chapter 7, “Birds Asleep,” details morning bird sounds, jokes about a rabbit (which would have been a chapter in a revised book), comets, and American Robin and Common Grackle roosts. Chapter 8, “Pale Male Asleep,” discusses the expansion of Red-tailed Hawk nests in New York City and the Woodland’s Committee.

  • Merlin, Cornell University’s sound and visual identification tool, would now be a central topic in this section about bird sounds. It’s a great tool for discovery, but like any A.I. tool it’s not always accurate, so it’s important to question its results.
  • In an era where tools like eBird, social media, and Merlin risk transforming birdwatching into a mere game akin to Pokémon Go, I’m certain Marie would have written about how to effectively utilize tools like Merlin, not as a crutch, but as a means to enhance observations.
  • After many Common Grackle roost trees were damaged in a winter storm, they were cut down and replaced with a different species. Consequently, there’s no longer a massive influx of birds at dusk at Grand Army Plaza.
  • Red-tailed Hawk nests, while experiencing a recent decline in Central Park, are still doing well throughout the city. A discussion of the history of the other Red-tailed Hawk nests in Central Park, over the last fifteen years would be an interesting update.
  • Regrettably, the Woodland’s Committee no longer exists. The Central Park Conservancy has ceased its interest in meeting with the naturalist community.

Chapter 9 through 12, are primarily about owl watching. The reintroduction of the Eastern Screech-Owl failed, and although Marie generally wrote positive accounts, a dedicated chapter would be necessary to detail the outcome of the project. When the reintroduction was first proposed, Peter Post Peter Post expressed concerns at a Woodlands Committee meeting that we shouldn’t reintroduce them if we don’t first understand why they died out. His concerns proved warranted. Factors such as rodenticides, car collisions, predation and cavity contention with over-fed squirrels resulted in most of the owls dying, with a few dispersing to areas outside of the park. By 2012, there were no longer any Eastern Screech-Owls in the park.

Marie Winn’s writing beautifully captured the joy of studying nature. While her tales occasionally contained anthropomorphic elements that some readers found excessive, she conveyed to her readers the immense pleasure derived from the process of discovery. She educated New Yorkers about the abundance of nature within the city that could be enjoyed and explored. Her books inspired many New Yorkers to embrace the natural world and become naturalists.

Central Park continues to be a magical place to study wildlife in both the day and at night.

It’s too bad she wasn’t able to revise or to have written a sequel to Central Park in the Dark. I bet Even More Mysteries of Urban Wildlife would have been a best seller.

Eurasian Eagle-Owl, General News, Owls

Science Denial Killed Flaco

Flaco’s death wasn’t a window collision or some other cause. It was science denial.

To borrow the title from Davis Guggenheim’s film of Al Gore discussing climate change, Flaco’s story has an inconvenient truth. A Eurasian Eagle-Owl raised by humans and not native to North America, released into Manhattan would have a lifespan outside the zoo of less than eighteen months.

Flaco’s life outside of the zoo, was not a wonderful life where he was a free and wild bird. He was a feral bird in an urban purgatory where he would be alone forever. New Yorkers choose to ignore the risks Flaco would face in Manhattan, and the risk he might become to native wildlife.

It was much more fun to enjoy wonderful images of him, keep track of his location, read cute stories of him being a “Peeping Tom”, catch a glimpse of him, listen to him hooting or fantasize that he was living his “best life” flying free, than to work to recover him.

We selfishly ignored the truth and simply let him die. We did not love him.

We were intrigued and infatuated with him, but we failed to protect him. Even birders who knew the city was an unsafe place for Flaco, let their bias against captivity prevent them from speaking out. When the zoo announced after only two weeks that it was giving up on capturing Flaco, there should have been protests not celebration.

It was never a simple story of “zoo bad, freedom good”. Flaco could easily have been recaptured in the first few months, if the zoo had worked to control the narrative and had immediately hired the correct people. Once recovered, public pressure would have then forced the zoo to build Flaco a better enclosure or he could have been placed with an owl sanctuary. It was never a binary choice of a small cage or Manhattan.

The inconvenient truth got in the way of gaining social media followers, taking a photograph, publishing “feel good” news stories, filming a documentary, selling merchandise, painting murals, and protecting a zoo’s reputation.

A radical animal activist released him without considering the risks. It was the act of an anarchist, who was willing to cut short an owl’s life to prove a point. No large owl has lived in Manhattan for more than 18 months in the last few decades. Flaco wasn’t being released to some alpine forest. Flaco was simply being used as a pawn in a battle over zoos.

This radical animal activist was celebrated as a hero by many. Would we celebrate someone letting a parrot out of its cage, or dumping a house cat in Central Park? No. So, why did we celebrate Flaco’s release? And why did we applaud an anarchist?

Flaco’s fate was sealed during the first two weeks of his life outside the zoo. A perfect storm of a social media influencer who loved to be in front of television cameras while pretending to be an expert, the media looking for that happy and positive special interest story and a zoo administration without a leader with a P.R. policy of non-engagement, turned the public from understanding that Flaco need to be captured to wanting him to stay free.

After Flaco’s release from the zoo, any media publicity, especially publicity that would invite the public to watch any rescue efforts would hamper his capture.

However, this occurred due to a campaign by David Barrett via his X account, the Manhattan Bird Alert, to cast Flaco’s release not as a misguided criminal act, but as a chance for an invasive species to live happily in New York City. David Barrett, as he did with a Mandarin Duck, Snowy Owl and a Barred Owl, has a habit of turning birds into celebrities, not for the benefit of the bird, but to promote his social media account and to get himself in the print and television media.

The media got duped by David Barrett and others with Flaco. Major media outlets, including The New York Time and the Wall Street Journal assigned metro desk reporters, not reporters who normally covered science and nature topics to cover Flaco. Reporters treated the story as an urban phenomenon, rather than focusing on what was the right action to protect Flaco and the native species he would interact with.

How different would the reporting have been in The New York Times if the story had gotten covered by someone on the Science Times staff? We would have had real experts telling the truth about Flaco’s future outside of the zoo rather than a social media influencer shaping a self-serving narrative. It wouldn’t have been an upbeat story, but it would have put pressure on the zoo to recover Flaco.

The zoo, which only had an acting President after Cristián Samper’s departure, chose not to have a spokesperson present the zoo’s position and gain public support. Their employees are all under NDAs and the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) has a “don’t engage” policy regarding animal activists. Their only public comments before his death were three press releases and I believe one tweet from Robert G. “Robb” Menzi, then acting President of WCS. They quickly lost control of public opinion and doomed Flaco to an early death.

The crowds David Barrett sent to the first few rescues made it impossible to catch Flaco. Especially on the first real attempt to catch him on the Hechsher Ballfields. He would have been caught if it wasn’t for the public that was invited by David Barrett to come watch Flaco. Just before dusk with only five people watching Flaco’s roost, David Barrett sent a tweet with Flaco’s location and thirty people arrived within minutes and David Barrett continued to broadcast Flaco’s minute-by-minute location throughout the evening. If David Barrett was an ethical person, he would have asked people to avoid the ballfields to allow the WCS team to work. Instead, with crowds of people, Flaco only made one real attempt to come down to the traps, and by some bad luck managed to free himself from the trap. Later that night, he was seen catching his first rat making the future rescue efforts harder.

The next week at the last rescue attempt, a rehabber and the zoo staff were very, very close to capturing Flaco. The WCS had finally gotten an expert rehabber, who knew how to use audio recordings in addition to traps to capture Flaco. However, David Barrett baited a “Free Flaco” follower into harassing the rescue efforts and they had to be halted. This rehabber even got death threats!

So, the acting president of the zoo, Robert G. “Robb” Menzi, choose to halt all rescue efforts after only two weeks, against the advice of the Central Park Zoo staff. Clearly, public relations took precedence over science.

The public and the media believes that the zoo just gave up, because after beginning to hunt on his own, Flaco was too hard to catch. This is simply not true. He could have been caught up until he left Central Park.

I talked to the rehabber working to return Flaco to safety early that last evening. I asked him, “Whose side are you on, those who want Flaco to be free or the zoo?” His answer was perfect. He looked at me and said, “I’m on Flaco’s side.”

It’s too bad more of us hadn’t been on Flaco’s side.

Eurasian Eagle-Owl, Owls

Rest in Peace, Flaco

I’m sad to report that Flaco, the Eurasian Eagle-Owl has died.

The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) has confirmed his death on their website.

The press release obfuscates some of the WCS’s responsibilities in Flaco’s death, however. While the vandal who released him is untimely responsible for Flaco’s death, the zoo failed to protect and recover Flaco. The WSC has never addressed the poor security at the Central Park Zoo, the public relations vacuum that led to the disruption of the rescue attempts, and the abandonment of the rescue attempts after only two weeks which the WCS justified because of Flaco’s ability to feed himself, ignoring the risks he faced in Manhattan and the risks he posed to native wildlife. The press release clearly was written by a public relations team who repeatedly put the WCS’s interests ahead of Flaco’s.

Alan Drogin lives in the building where Flaco was found and wrote this on the NYS Birds listserv.

From: Alan Drogin
Date: February 23, 2024 at 21:54:02 EST
To: NYS Birds NYSBIRDS-L@cornell.edu
Subject: [nysbirds-l] Flaco

About a month ago I posted about hearing Flaco in our neighborhood.  I connected with Bruce Yolton who’s been photographing and reporting Flaco sightings on his website Urban Hawks.  I’d been hearing Flaco regularly since then and a few us in our building have seen him sleeping on the fire escape adjacent to our courtyard.

Earlier this evening our super buzzed us to report that Flaco was likely dead, lying face down, wings splayed out just outside our building’s basement door.  When I ran downstairs to have a look I saw some slight movement and immediately ran upstairs to report to the Wild Bird Fund and the NY Department of Environmental Protection.  WBF fortunately being only a few blocks away immediately sent two volunteers to rescue him.

I don’t know if there is any chance he survived, but our prayers are with him.

Alan Drogin

It was comforting to know that Alan Drogin, an expert birder called the correct individuals, who quickly came to collect and treat Flaco. Thank you, Alan.

Eurasian Eagle-Owl, Owls

Flaco’s Expanding Diet

The news that Flaco has been killing and eating pigeons has raised some concerns on social media. His change of diet from rodents to pigeons most likely lowers his health risks. The pigeons are less likely to be poisoned by could contain lead, Avian Flu or Frounce.

What is a major concern is something the zoo administration, the “Free Flaco” movement, the media and local birding organizations have all chosen to ignore which is, what will Flaco’s impact be on native wildlife? Will Flaco move on from killing feral Rock Pigeons to native birds? And will he raid hawk and falcon nests, as Eurasian Eagle-Owls do in Europe and Asia?

This spring, because people acted in their own self-interests and only thought about the short term, we may have a major crisis. If Flaco behaves like other Eurasian Eagle-Owls and predates on raptor and falcon nests, what should be done? At this point he will be very difficult to recapture, since he’s left Central Park and changed diets. And since he is still the property of the WCS, who has the authority to recapture him is also a difficult question to answer.

The only option might be to let him take protected birds or euthanize him. Neither option is a positive outcome.

The likelihood that Flaco would interfere with native wildlife was clear from the beginning. It’s frustrating that we have let Flaco’s beauty, celebrity status and resilience blind us from focusing on the long-term impact of letting an invasive species remain loose in New York City.

Eurasian Eagle-Owl, Owls

Eurasian Eagle-Owl, Night 376

While Flaco has been out of the park these last few months, where and how he has been hunting has been a mystery. He has been roosting in courtyards full of rodents, but he’s also been seen going into Central Park late in the evening, so where and what he was hunting has been uncertain. There were one or two occasions where he was spotted eating a rat, but those of us observing him haven’t seen him hunting.

So, it was quite a surprise when I saw him with a dead bird on Monday evening. The head had already been removed and the wings torn off, but it was most likely a Rock Pigeon. It would be easy for Flaco to take a roosting pigeon off a building ledge. It is probably easier, than hunting moving rats on the ground.

What’s unclear is how long he has been eating birds. I don’t think anyone has been collecting his pellets since he left the park. Pigeons could easily have been added to his diet, anytime since he left Central Park.

When Flaco was in the Central Park Zoo, the staff tried to diversify his diet, but he would only eat rats. So, his eating a bird is yet another milestone in Flaco’s life outside of the zoo. But it increases concerns that he might begin predating on nesting hawks and falcons.

Flaco, carried the prey around the area, hooting away. He’s also done this with rats in Central Park. I suspect his instincts are not only to hoot for any potential mate, but to also show that he’s a good provider. Late in the evening, Flaco settled down and ate the bird.

Rock Pigeons are safer than rodents caught in courtyards, but not perfectly safe. They carry Frounce, a form of trichomoniasis, which can be transmitted to raptors when consumed. Untreated it is often fatal for raptors. Frounce has been a problem for many Red-tailed Hawks in NYC. Pigeons can also have high lead levels.