Flaco was in his regular roost tree on Tuesday. At flyout he went to three trees before skipping the construction site and going directly to the compost heap. Within an hour he caught a Brown Rat and took it to a tree. He was having a bit of trouble with the high winds, but after hooting for a bit, ate the rat fairly quickly.
After watching two Great Horned Owls earlier in the evening, I caught up Flaco, the released Eurasian Eagle-Owl on Monday night. He was hunting rodents and perched twice in a tree, but also on the ground, a log and a rock. He was more patient then I was, as I gave up before he caught anything.
Flaco was back to a normal routine on Sunday evening. He hooted before fly out, then went to three trees around the construction site and then spent 90 minutes in the construction site. He often was on the ground and spent a great deal of time on a small rock in what will be the channel for the restored stream. Later in the evening he flew to trees to the SE of the construction site.
Many birds use gular fluttering. Today, our established Great Horned Owl, and a newly arrived owl both used gular fluttering to cool off on an exceptually warm April day. The video and photographs are of the new arrival.
Flaco is moving around the park like he did the first two weeks after his release. Slowly moving around but not too far each night. I was able to watch him for about 30 minutes on Friday evening. While I’ve been able to find him at night, I haven’t been able to figure out his new roosting location(s). It’s going to be a challenge to keep up with him as the trees leaf out.
Central Park’s resident Great Horned Owl surprised me on Tuesday. The locked hill she’s been using all winter was opened up today. I was on a walk with the Linnaean Society of New York in the morning, and was able to let our group view the owl through my spotting scope.
However, when I returned with my camera, she was no where to be seen. A quick text to some friends led me to her location. Hawks had driven her from her roost. As the trees leaf out, hawks become more aggressive and with her winter roosting hill now unlocked, I suspect we’ll now have to work at finding her.
