I loved this bird: Flaco the Owl

Flaco is dead.  I loved this bird and his story from the moment I heard it.

Flaco, Escaped Central Park Zoo Owl and Defier of Doubts, Is Dead, by Ed Shanahan, published in the New York Times, February 23, 2024.

Let loose by an act of vandalism, the Eurasian eagle-owl died after apparently striking an Upper West Side building according to the zoo.

Flaco was freed from the Central Park Zoo by a vandal in February 2023, and his subsequent sightings captivated New York City.

Today, Feb 24th, in the NYT Opinion column The Point:  A Farewell to Flaco, the Ultimate New Yorker, by Zeynep Tufekci

Other Flaco NYT articles

1.  Just this past February 2nd, the NYT published this about Flaco's year of freedom:  The Year Flaco the Owl Roamed Free, by Ed Shanahan, first published February 2, 2024 and updated on February 24, 2024.

2.  Most recently the NYT updated Flaco's followers with:  The Ballad of Flaco, the Outlaw Who Learned to Fly, by Michiko Kakutani, published in the New York Times on February 2, 2024.

3.  Approximately one month after Flaco's escape:  Everyone Loves Flaco the Escaped Owl.  But Why, Exactly?  By Michiko Kakutani, published in the New York Times on March 3, 2023.

4.  On the day following Flaco's death:  Flaco's Crash Might Have Been More Than Bad Luck.  Here's Why, by Catrin Einhorn, published in the New York Times on February 24, 2024.

5.  A little touchy-feely but, unless the full necropsy is reported, this is the end of Flaco's New York story:  New York Mourns Flaco, an Owl Who Inspired as He Made the City His Own, by Ed Shanahan, published in the New York Times on February 24, 2024. 

6.  Well, I was wrong.  Today another NYT op-ed about Flaco popped up:  Like Many a Hero, Flaco the Owl Made His Choice, by Carl Safina, an ecologist at the State University of New York at Stony Brook, published in the New York Times, Opinion Guest Essay, February 26, 2026.  There are many ways that Flaco reminded us of the possibilities life offers and encouraged us.  This essay includes the unedited photo of the one I included above.  Fabulous to see the full photo.

7.  I forgot about Flaco sources other than the New York Times.  On today's, March 7, 2024, ABA podcast, Protecting Plovers in NYC with Chris Allieri, host Nate Swick offers his op-ed about Flaco that I both agree and disagree with.  I do think, however, scientists, ornithologists and naturalists overwhelmingly agree with Nate.  I like metaphors so I am okay with the metaphor of Flaco choosing freedom over captivity to became a symbol for many New Yorkers that identified with his plight as an immigrant to New York City.  However, Nate also explained something that I didn't know.  Apparently, Flaco enthusiasts (New Yorkers/birders/others?) interfered with Flaco's recapture by the Central Park Zoo officials.  The photos and text I saw and read made it appear that Flaco spurned recapture by not entering a cage with frozen mice.  Was one year of freedom and early death vs. his first 14 years in zoo captivity worth it?  Nate adds to the voices that knew it was never going to turn out well for Flaco and disavows the anthropomorphism that people attached to Flaco.  The interview with Chris Allieri about the NYC Piping Plover project is also excellent.     

The photographs in all of these articles are charming and, some, are photographically spectacular.