Friday, Flaco continued to roost in a White Pine and then after exploring a bit ended up spending most of his time on a ballfields lawn. He would go up into trees now and again, but kept returning to the lawn. He ignored the trap on the lawn, and hunted. Eventually he caught a Brown Rat.

As he mantled the prey, the Wildlife Conservation Society staff tried to net him but he escaped from them.

Wednesday with the Central Park Zoo Eurasian Eagle-Owl, Flaco, was fascinating. This bird has acclimated to the park very quickly. Much quicker than I would have expected for an animal that has been in captivity its whole life.

It was hunting last tonight, and made multiple passes at Brown Rats. It is scoping out locations where the Manhattan schist is exposed and waiting patiently (for as long as 40 minutes last night) for a rodent to run over the rocks. Last night, Flaco used an area that I know well from tracking a coyote in 2010, who had a den in Hallett Nature Sanctuary. Different animal, but the same prey and territory!

Flaco’s hunting skills aren’t perfected and I haven’t seen him catch anything yet. But for him to go from being fed to hunting in less than a week is beyond expectations.

Eurasian Eagle-Owls can easily go for a week without eating, so there is no need to worry about Flaco at this point. But his independent streak is making it harder for the Wildlife Conservation Society staff to catch him. He hasn’t settled into any daily routines yet and doesn’t seem to be very hungry, which is helping him evade capture.

I don’t want to give away the zoo staff’s playbook, but last night I saw a wonderful, caring group of individuals do everything possible to catch Flaco. From what I saw they’re doing all of the right things, and have the correct folks in place. Unfortunately, Flaco just doesn’t want to go home yet.

Thursday was an interesting day to watch the owl as it became apparent by the end of it, that he had fully adjusted to being in the park. But it was also a frustrating day, due to inappropriate use of social media, which hampered rescue efforts.

I birded as usual starting at reservoir and in the late after noon went down to the south end of the park. With good luck and some intuition, I found the owl fairly quickly. I then noticed two photographers under the roost tree, and a bit later two Wildlife Conservation Society employees discreetly watching over Flaco.

Everything was quiet and relaxed. Flaco was preening now and again. He looked like he was in the right spot, in conifer near exposed rocks. This is similar to his mountain habit in Eurasia.

Then out of nowhere, 15 people arrived. None of these people were the “regulars”, who watch owls regularly but people I had never seen before. They quickly ran under the tree and all around it. Soon more arrived. It was a social media driven flash mob. I checked my phone, and guess what there was are reporting of the roost on the Manhattan Bird Alert!

After fly out, Flaco took a huge tour of the park’s lower section stopping in many trees. Having watched owls be chased by crowds before, he clearly was being pushed by the crowd, who were rushing to be under him at each tree. Eventually, as the crowd dispersed he settled down.

The Wildlife Conservation Society team began their recovery efforts for the season once Flaco settled down. The Wildlife Conservation Society set up traps to lure Flaco. The traps consisted of a mesh box with fishing line on top. These are commonly used by banders.

Unfortunately, Flaco only made two passes at the traps. Once he was almost caught but freed himself, and another he came down but was scared by a dog. He should have made more passes but onlookers and photographs repeated got near the traps or distracted him.

Later that evening, David Lei photographed Flaco with a rat in his beak. We reported the news to the recovery team the next day. While the Wildlife Conservation Society staff would try to lure him down to traps on Friday and Saturday night, he was no longer hungry and ignored them!

I watched Flaco, the bird that was released by vandals from the Central Park Zoo, again from 4:30 to just before Midnight on Tuesday.

Over the last few days, it has been fascinating to watch a captive animal adjust to life outside its enclosure. Basic day-to-day skills are being learned and perfected each day. The behavior reminds me of what we see with Red-tailed Hawk fledglings. Flaco’s release has so many of the same elements.

• An awkward first few attempts at flying resulting in a brief time on the ground or on a sidewalk.
• Finding a high point in a tree for safety but not really knowing which branches to choose.
• Going to the highest spot to survey the area and be safe from predators.
• Then going lower and learning to explore tree branches within a single tree.
• Dealing with other birds and animals, which for Flaco has been Blue Jays, Tufted Titmouses, Eastern Raccoons and Gray Squirrels.
• Expanding their range, but also returning to their “nest site”, which for Flaco is the Central Park Zoo.

I’m amazed that this owl is learning so quickly. It is doing in a few days, what takes at least a month for Red-tailed Hawk fledgling.

I had started my day birding my way down from the Central Park Reservoir which still has a stunning immature Common Loon, down to look at our resident Great Horned Owl (who may have flown over the Eurasian Eagle-Owl around 10 pm) and then to the Zoo by 4:30 pm.

The Eurasian Eagle-Owl about 20 feet high in an ivy covered tree just inside the Central Park Zoo. It was surrounded by crowd of gawkers and photographers. It had found a good perch to roost in, and for the first time chose a camouflaged location. It was good to see that it had returned to “home base”.

At fly out, it went to a nearby tree, before going into the Zoo and perching in a conifer. Fairly quickly, it went across the East Drive and explored some trees.

Flaco then returned to the Zoo, spent a long time near an enclosure for cranes, and was for the most part out of view. While Eurasian Eagle-Owls get most of their water from their prey, this area of the Zoo has lots of open water including a loud waterfall, so this might be why the owl is attracted to this location.

At this point, I rushed home to switch out my lighter camera gear and scope I use during the day while birding, for a lens and tripod more suited for the low light of the night. When I returned, the owl became visible in the Zoo but then disappeared again. Out of the blue, it shot up to the top of tree it had roosting in during the day. Soon it went exploring, going to trees across the drive and then eventually going to a tree in the lawn below The Dairy. After loosing track of the bird, we rediscovered it just outside of Chess and Checkers, which is being renovated and surrounded by fences. After a few minutes, the owl dove into the construction site, and we couldn’t tell if it went into the area or just past it. At this point, just before midnight when I couldn’t locate the owl, I went home.

What a wonderful night. I find so much joy in studying a species and learning its behavior. I’ve done this for years with Red-tailed Hawks, Eastern Screech-Owls and Peregrine Falcons over the last seventeen years. Watching how this captive bird adjusts to being released has been an incredibly interesting. And it’s only a few block from my house in the middle of the Big Apple.

Having spoken to lots of onlookers seeing the owl for the first time, I have some advice. When Marie Winn, did her book tour for Central Park in the Dark, her follow up to Red-tails in Love, she was asked “What would you have done differently watching Pale Male?”. Her answer was she would have worried less.

So, rather than worrying and getting worked up not knowing if Flaco has eaten, when you’re watching him, study him. He has a lot to teach us about his species and how a captive animal manages when released abruptly.

The Wildlife Conservation Staff really cares about Flaco. While their staff is logically under a “don’t talk to the public about rescue plans” policy, spending a few days with them, it is clear they are doing everything they can to watch over this bird and return it safely to the Zoo. Don’t waste energy second guessing them.

Between visiting in the afternoon and then again later in the evening, I missed seeing Floco going to the ground. But on my evening visit, I saw Floco being very comfortable moving from tree to tree and doing a great job of leaving a tree quickly when he was visited by a raccoon.

I’ve heard a lot of folks second guess the Wildlife Conservation Society staff. They’re having to keep the Eurasian Eagle-Owl out of trouble while they wait for opportunities to recapture it. Given the vandalism that released Floco, it’s understandable that they can’t be forthcoming with details about their recapture plans. At this point Floco looks great, and we should let the W.C.S. staff do their jobs without a lot of second guessing.

Situations like this one don’t always turn out well. If that happens, which I hope it doesn’t, we should be careful not to blame the W.C.S. staff, but the person who released the owl.

The Eurasian Eagle-Owl was technically back at the zoo, in a high perch just inside the Central Park Zoo off of the East Drive. It’s a good sign. Hopefully it will return to its enclosure area and it can be netted this evening.