Flaco, the escaped Central Park Zoo Eurasian eagle-owl, with a rat shortly after catching it this past weekend.
— David Lei (@davidlei) February 14, 2023
* Long exposure night-time photo taken under ambient light with a telephoto lens. Only a small dark silhouette to the naked eye!#birds #birdwatching #nature #birdcpp pic.twitter.com/7Ug1aZUK1u
On February 2, a Eurasian eagle owl named Flaco escaped from the Central Park Zoo in Manhattan after someone cut into his wire enclosure. The owl was spotted and tracked by zoo staff, but every time they got close, he flew away. Over the next two weeks, Flaco was seen and photographed numerous times but refused to be approached. He has become the most elusive celebrity in the city, but doesn't mind the paparazzi as long as they don't get close enough to touch.
However, Flaco had been at the zoo since 2010, arriving at less than a year old, and zoo officials worried that he wouldn't be able to fend for himself.
Flaco's many fans were very heartened this past weekend to see that Flaco procured a rat, which indicates that he is learning to hunt and might be able to survive on his own.
Shortly before Flaco the Eurasian Eagle-Owl caught a rat, he was playing shallow right field—on the Heckscher Fields of Central Park on Saturday night. What a thrill to see Flaco adapt so quickly to living in the wild! pic.twitter.com/Gnrlc0vGHM
— Manhattan Bird Alert (@BirdCentralPark) February 12, 2023
The Twitter account Manhattan Bird Alert is keeping up with Flaco's daily adventures, and also gives us plenty of other city birds to watch. You can also see many pictures of Flaco under his Twitter hashtag.