Flaco, NYC's favorite Eurasian eagle-owl, has died

February 24, 2024 6:11 AM

Flaco, the Eurasian Eagle Owl, Has Died When someone vandalized his enclosure in the Central Park Zoo a little over a year ago, Flaco escaped. No one was sure if he could survive on his own, but survive he did, becoming a favorite of not only locals who went to see him in the Park but a world-wide audience who read about him. He recently moved to the Upper West Side where residents loved spotting him from their windows. Last night, he hit a building and died. Other links: NYT, Washington Post

Note: this is my first FPP. Apologies if I didn't get quite right.

posted by AMyNameIs (27 comments total)

As of the time of this posting, cause of death unknown.

I am one of those birders who liked to see him in Central Park. There was always concern when he left the Park that he might die from eating a poisoned rat (the Park doesn't use poison).

Friends of mine live on the Upper West Side and they loved sending pictures of him perched nearby to those of us who don't live there to make us jealous. We were.
posted by AMyNameIs at 6:12 AM on February 24 [7 favorites]

oh no! I’m not in NYC but he recently was on wikipedia “did you know” - that he’s been accused of being a peeping tom.

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posted by crime online at 6:59 AM on February 24 [6 favorites]

This is great post, thank you. Here are archive links for the NYT and WaPo in case more than 10 people click the NYT one.

Rest in peace Flaco 💔
posted by ellieBOA at 7:24 AM on February 24

As of the time of this posting, cause of death unknown.

The first link said it was from a collision with a building on West 89th Street.
posted by star gentle uterus at 7:24 AM on February 24

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posted by May Kasahara at 8:30 AM on February 24

Rest in peace, little creature.
posted by The Manwich Horror at 8:41 AM on February 24

Great time to remind people to make their windows bird safe. There are an estimated one billion collisions per year in the US.

FLAP is a Canadian organization dedicated to reducing bird strike.
posted by kaibutsu at 8:51 AM on February 24 [7 favorites]

EllieBOA, thank you for the archive links.

star gentle uterus, sorry to not be clearer. Flaco died from hitting the building, but they are doing a necropsy to see if anything caused him to hit the building.

A few years ago, another bird, Barry the Barred Owl, died after hitting a truck in the Park. They found rodenticide in her liver and the supposition was that made it difficult for her to fly.

Central Park doesn't use poison, but there is nothing to keep the birds from hunting elsewhere.
posted by AMyNameIs at 9:41 AM on February 24 [4 favorites]

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Stupid buildings.
posted by Going To Maine at 10:00 AM on February 24 [1 favorite]

oooh no. he was a beautiful baby. stupid buildings indeed.


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posted by supermedusa at 10:02 AM on February 24

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posted by Faint of Butt at 10:13 AM on February 24

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posted by JoeXIII007 at 10:26 AM on February 24

This really, truly sucks, but it is completely unsurprising that a non-native bird was going to have problems surviving in an urban area with tall glass buildings and rats full of rodenticide. He was a captive bred owl of a species that normally lives in remote areas. The people that damaged his habitat are responsible for his early death. It's not hard to argue that he shouldn't have been born in captivity in the first place, but his escape doomed him.
posted by oneirodynia at 10:58 AM on February 24 [5 favorites]

Googling this and reading all the articles headed that Flaco was "freed" and "thriving" really infuriates me. These owls have a 25-year lifespan, and Flaco would have lived a lot longer had someone - who has never been identified - not let him out.

The Central Park Zoo is an AZA-accredited zoo. I cannot figure out how they can meet those accreditation standards and not be able to identify the perp.
posted by rednikki at 11:42 AM on February 24 [4 favorites]

My local wildlife rehabilitation charity just shared this on social media:

"There are many ways that we can actively prevent birds from hitting our windows 🪟!

🐦 Draw vertical stripes, 2cm apart, using soap or a white marker

🐦 Add multiple decorative decals on the outside of the window

🐦 Add mesh, screens, netting, shades or shutters to hide reflections and soften collisions

🐦 Rope curtains are very effective for large windows

🐦 Close internal doors and curtains, so birds can't see a clear path through your house

🐦 Hang wind chimes in front of windows

🐦 Keep bird baths more than 9 metres away from windows

🐦 If you work in a large glass building, turn lights off at night

For new buildings, you can use etched, sandblasted or UV-reflective glass, or angle glass down at 20 degrees, so it doesn’t reflect trees or sky."
posted by chariot pulled by cassowaries at 11:43 AM on February 24 [5 favorites]

I'm surprised he made it a year. I had let myself hope a little bit.
posted by praemunire at 11:49 AM on February 24 [1 favorite]

"We are still hopeful that the NYPD, which is investigating the vandalism, will ultimately make an arrest."

NYPD: "What color was the bird?"
posted by milnak at 12:25 PM on February 24 [3 favorites]

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posted by allthinky at 3:14 PM on February 24

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posted by kinnakeet at 3:58 PM on February 24

Flaco's enclosure at the zoo was literally the size of a bus stop shelter, not big enough for him to fly in. I'm not against all zoos, but I am not convinced that a year of freedom and being able to behave as an owl's instincts are -- to fly, to hunt, to observe -- was worse than more decades in that grim solitary confinement. It was entirely improper of Central Park Zoo to keep him in those conditions.
posted by tavella at 4:33 PM on February 24 [10 favorites]

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posted by The Ardship of Cambry at 5:06 PM on February 24

Cutting the enclosure was roughly the equivalent of rescuing the kid from Omelas only to push them out of the car in the middle of the Hudson Parkway, though.
posted by praemunire at 5:54 PM on February 24 [6 favorites]

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posted by gentlyepigrams at 8:28 PM on February 24

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posted by my-username at 2:03 AM on February 25

Even knowing that something like this would happen sooner or later, I nevertheless burst into tears upon seeing the news.

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posted by tentacle at 1:58 PM on February 25

I stuck bird cutouts on my office windows after a few birds hit, and the corporate landlord sent me a nastygram. I offered to forward the nastygram to the local press, and they mysteriously shut up.
posted by cyndigo at 7:41 PM on February 25

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posted by Quasirandom at 8:52 AM on February 26