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Hooooo’s there?
Vandals freed Flaco, a Eurasian eagle owl, from the confines of the Central Park Zoo last February.
In the months since, the avian escapee has gone on an aerial tour of Gotham. He’s recently been spotted in Alphabet City, on the Lower East Side and all around uptown. Some New Yorkers have been obsessively tracking him.
“I’ve been looking regularly for Flaco,” said Jacqueline Emery, a 45-year-old associate professor of English at SUNY Old Westbury who lives on the Upper West Side.
Most recently, she spotted him just after 5 pm. Tuesday poised above two Central Park West apartment buildings: 241 Central Park West and 5 W. 86th St.
“I heard him hooting and he was on [the one] building very briefly, then he flew to the cage on top of the building on West 86th Street,” Emery recalled. “Those are his spots.”
She noted that the bird of prey, whose species is typically found in mountainous areas and forests across Asia and Europe, seems to be straying more from the park.
“This is his new behavior now, what we’re seeing,” she said. “He’s no longer roosting in the park, or even trees as far as we know. He’s using human-made structures: air conditioners, window ledges and fire escapes, particularly ones on the inside of buildings.”
Fellow Flaco-watcher David Barrett agrees.
“He’s choosing buildings, enclosed courtyards and backyards as a place to rest during the day,” said the 59-year-old who runs the Manhattan Bird Alert account on X, formerly known as Twitter.
“That’s significant because it’s different than what he’d been doing previously: resting in trees, mostly in Central Park.”
David Lei, 35, is concerned about Flaco’s new flight patterns. The Midtown real estate investor and avid birder, who specialized in owls, first saw Flaco in a tree outside The Plaza hotel the night he escaped.
He went on to observe him throughout Central Park — around its 20-acre lake, Hallett Sanctuary, Hecksher Ballfields, The Mall, North Woods, North Meadows and a compost heap near East 104th Street — on numerous occasions. Now, he worries about what Flaco might encounter in the urban jungle.
“My biggest concern is secondary rodenticide poison,” Lei said. “That risk is higher outside the park because of the use of rat bait boxes outside residential and commercial buildings.”
Central Park Zoo officials did not return messages seeking comment.
Barrett thinks Flaco likely left the park because he’s been bothered by bolder and more aggressive birds such as red-tailed hawks, American crows and blue jays. As recently as September, he seemed to favor a large oak tree in Central Park.
These day, like any New Yorker, he’s looking to mingle.
“He’s probably looking for a mate,” Barrett said.
FINDING FLACO
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