One of the central tenets of my wife’s and my marriage is, we don’t tell each other what to do. It’s not a rule so much as a guideline, one we both make an effort not to stray too far beyond. We’re both long-time fans of personal autonomy.
There’s been a big asterisk on that tenet in recent weeks, though, an asterisk perpetrated by my wife, something that could almost be considered borderline nagging.
It has mostly manifested itself in her repeated use of a single phrase: “Why don’t you write something about Flaco?” Though I’m not sure if I punctuated her phrase correctly. Should you use a question mark at the end of a sentence that is not as much a question as it is a directive?
Flaco, for those unawares, is an owl, specifically an Eurasian eagle-owl, who escaped from the Central Park Zoo in Manhattan on February 2 after vandals cut open the wire mesh on his cage. He’s spent the last month and a half hanging around what is arguably the most famous public space in the world. Flaco was captive bred, and at first it was worried that he would starve to death because he wouldn’t know how to hunt and feed himself, and because having spent most of his life in a cage that has been described as about the size of a bus stop shelter, he was not the best flyer. But his flying skills have apparently greatly improved, and he seems to be thriving on a steady diet of readily available, and easily catchable, rats. And he’s become something of celebrity. In certain New York social circles catching sight of Flaco has more cachet than seeing J-Lo and Ben out on a tear, or overhearing Fran Lebowitz complain about the quality of the bagels or how you can’t get proper jelly beans since Schrafft’s went out of business or whatever.
Flaco also has a serious media profile, having been the subject of stories in venerable media outlets such as the New York Times, CNN, CBS, ABC, NPR, the New York Post, the New Yorker, and National Geographic.
Eurasian eagle-owls are one of the biggest owl species in the world, with a six-foot wingspan and the Latin name Bubo bubo, with “bubo” meaning owl, arguably making them the owliest of owls. It helps that Flaco is drop dead gorgeous, a big owl with a six foot wingspan, long ear tufts, and an earthy plumage that ranges from dark taupe to fawn to mocha to tiger orange.
The term for such a creature in eco-world is charismatic megafauna. People just love them.
This time of year, with all the bare-limbed trees in the park, he’s been pretty easy to spot. Birders, and people interested in celebrity owls, have been tracking him around the park. One of the easiest ways to spot him is to wander around Central Park looking for a small group of people with binoculars and cameras all staring at the same thing. There have been some great photos produced – Flaco with skyscrapers in the background, Flaco sitting on the arms of backhoes, Flaco getting harassed by squirrels, Flaco standing next to a trap, declining to take the bait.
Trying to get a good look at an owl can bring out the ruthlessness in some people, especially photographers. Several websites and Facebook pages will no longer post “paparazzi like” photos of owls for fear of the disruptive, unethical, and sometimes outright dangerous (for the owl) techniques some photographers will use to get a good shot.
Eurasian eagle-owls tend to breed and live in remote places that are only sparsely settled – narrow gorges, high cliffs, swampy forests, uninhabited grasslands, and the occasional bit of rocky farmland. Flaco has seen, and been surrounded by, far more humans than any member of his species is supposed to – even if you don’t count his 13 years on display in the zoo.
Interestingly, the crowds that have followed Flaco around seem to have been respectful. You have not seen a lot of stories about boorish behavior, about people crowding too close and disturbing the bird, or about people chasing it aggressively around the park. My guess is because there are so many people keeping tabs on Flaco, and so many people emotionally invested in its wellbeing, that anyone who might bother the owl will get called out before they have a chance to create much of an effect.
A lot of people are viewing Flaco’s escape, as well as his post-escape exploits, as something of a metaphor. Michiko Kakutani, the famously fierce book critic for the New York Times, wrote, “Many New Yorkers, especially those confined to small apartments during Covid, identified with Flaco’s story,” adding, “Flaco gave a weary city still trying to come back from the pandemic a heartening sense of resilience.” (Kakutani seems to have a thing for Manhattanite owls, as this was the third story about a Central Park owl that she’s come out of retirement to write.)
I’m always wary of seeing birds as metaphors for our lives. Birds have a tough enough existence without us saddling them with our emotional baggage onto them. And their actual lives are generally far more interesting than whatever symbolism we project upon them.
The fact that Flaco seems to be thriving is great, but the road ahead has many risks for a bird so far from its natural habitat. The biggest, in a city famous for its rodents, is most likely rat poison, which tends to travel up the food chain and accumulate at the top of the food chain. Even when it doesn’t outright kill an alpha predator like an owl, it will often impair them and make the vulnerable to other risks.
There is also the omnipresent danger of cars. The previous most famous Central Park owl – a barred owl nicknamed Barry – was killed in 2021 when it collided with a moving Central Park Conservancy maintenance vehicle. (Kukatani’s story about this owl was sweet, but contained a level of sentimentality for which she would have excoriated any first-time novelist. Which shows you how owls can soften even the seemingly hardest of hearts.)
I’m not sure how it’s going to go for Flaco. I wish him well, though I’m not sure whether I want to see him re-captured, which would be the safest thing for him, or whether I want to see him continue to make his way in Central Park, which is probably the most fulfilling way for him to live. But I appreciate him providing me with the opportunity to keep my marriage on track.
