08/12/2023

Flaco fever! Super fans track Central Park Zoo’s escapee owl all around NYC

Hooooo there?

Vandals freed Flaco, a Eurasian eagle owl, from the Central Park Zoo enclosure last February.

In the months that followed, the escaped bird made an aerial tour of Gotham. He has recently been spotted in Alphabet City, on the Lower East Side and around uptown. Some New Yorkers have tracked it down obsessively.

“I’m always looking for Flaco,” said Jacqueline Emery, a 45-year-old associate professor of English at SUNY Old Westbury who lives on the Upper West Side.

Recently, he saw her after 5 p.m. Tuesday was atop two Central Park West apartment buildings: 241 Central Park West and 5 W. 86th St.

Flaco perched atop 241 Central Park West, an iconic Art Deco high-rise apartment building, during a recent Upper West Side jaunt on Dec. 2. Courtesy of Jacqueline Emery

“I heard him scream and he lived [the one] build briefly, then he flew into a cage on top of a building on West 86th Street,” Emery said. “Those were the spots.”

He noted that birds of prey, whose species are typically found in mountainous and forested areas throughout Asia and Europe, appear to be increasingly straying from the park.

“This is his new behavior now, what we’re seeing,” he said. “He’s no longer perched in the garden, or even the tree as far as we know. He uses man-made structures: air conditioners, window banks and fire shelters, especially in the interior of buildings.”

Flaco atop a water tower at 86th Street and Columbus Avenue on Dec. 2 during his ongoing exploration of the Upper West Side, where he also regularly uses air conditioners, yards and other enclosed spaces, Lei said. Courtesy of David Lei

Fellow Flaco watcher David Barrett agrees.

“He chose the building, the courtyard and the backyard as a place to rest during the day,” said the 59-year-old man who runs the business. Manhattan Bird Alert account on X, formerly known as Twitter.

“That’s important because it’s different from what he’s done before: 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 bird enthusiast, who specializes in owls, first spotted Flaco in a tree outside The Plaza hotel the night he escaped.

He continued to observe it throughout Central Park — around the 20-acre lake, Hallett Sanctuary, Hecksher Ballfields, The Mall, North Woods, North Meadows and the compost pile near East 104th Street — multiple times. Now, he worries about what Flaco might face in the urban jungle.

“My biggest concern is the secondary rodenticide,” Lei said. “The risk is higher outside the park because of the use of rat bait boxes outside residential and commercial buildings.”

Flaco originally lived around Central Park, but now he’s venturing further afield. Courtesy of David Lei

Central Park Zoo officials did not return messages seeking comment.

Barrett thinks Flaco likely left the park because he was harassed by bolder and more aggressive birds such as red-tailed hawks, American crows and blue jays. As recently as September, he seemed to like a big oak tree in Central Park.

Today, like any New Yorker, he wants to socialize.

“He’s probably looking for a mate,” Barrett said.

LOOKING FOR FLACO

Oct. 20: Oak Tree, near East Drive at 104th Street, Central Park
November 6: Kenkeleba House Park, 214 East 2nd Street; Flaco had been out of sight for over a week when he appeared in this East Village park
November 6: East 3rd and Avenue B: Flaco leaves the park for an East Village apartment building
November 9: Main and Lewis Streets: The owl was seen on the air conditioner at East River Houses.
November 15: 5th Ave at 93rd/94th streets, near Central Park: Yum! Flaco spits out some undigested victims while on top of the air conditioner
November 16: 5th Ave at 90th Street
November 17: The Mount, Central Park: The bird appears in the city’s large compost pile
Nov 18: 5th Ave at East 106th Street
November 19: Central Park Loch: Flaco rests near the narrow waterway, sleeping soundly before flying off at sunset.
November 20: 85th Street and West End Avenue
Dec. 1: 82nd Street between Central Park West and Columbus Avenue
Dec. 2: 86th Street and Columbus Avenue: Escapees spotted in water tower on top of building
Dec. 2: 86th Street and Central Park West: Clearly an Art Deco fan, Flaco is perched atop the iconic skyscraper
Dec. 3: West 86th Street and Columbus
Dec. 4: Riverside Drive and West 86th Street
Dec 5: 241 Central Park West