Flaco, the feral Eurasian Eagle-Owl, hide on Sunday and wasn’t found until Monday. He was found in the northern end of the park, much further north than expected. He’s continuing to out pace expectations. His new roost was in a quiet part of the park, birded mostly by experienced birders. So, while he had a crowd watching him, unlike the southern end of the park, today’s crowd was quiet and respectful.
Central Park’s resident Great Horned Owl was easily viewed on Saturday afternoon. She was in the perfect place to get some late afternoon sun. I watched her cough up a pellet and stretch before flying out. She hooted briefly before flying to another tree.
I’m disappointed to learn of the decision of the Wildlife Conservation Society to leave Flaco out in Central Park for the time being. I would have liked to have seen a different outcome. While it’s been wonderful to see that he has adapted to the park, and managing well, I don’t think it is good for the other birds of the park. I also worry that life as a celebrity bird isn’t any better than being in the zoo.
On Saturday, rather than let him roost quietly, there was always a large, noisy crowd watching him. He hooted while I was there in the afternoon, and he didn’t seem to be getting much sleep.
I find it frustrating that would could have been a teaching moment to let folks know about how to report and watch owls has been lost. He’s now being promoted as the “Next Big Thing” and a tourist attraction.
I couldn’t spend much time in the park today, so I only had a few minutes with Flaco. He was roosting comfortably, except for when a Gray Squirrel tried to take a small bite of him.
It’s now over two weeks since vandals released an Eurasian Eagle-Owl from the zoo. I watched the owl in the afternoon and into the evening.
Flaco drew a large crowd on Wednesday. He was just south of where he was discovered yesterday. He coughed up a pellet about an hour before dusk. He was on a low branch but moved up about higher before fly out. It wasn’t clear what made him move. There was a hawk flying about, a group of folks went right under his roost location and it was also close to fly out time. It could have been any one of these reasons, or a combination.
Flaco hooted before leaving the roost tree for the evening.
