Remembering Flaco
It would be disrespectful, after remembering Pale Male. This is yet another issue that acknowledges death. If this was forwarded to you, you can subscribe here.
Hi Bestie!!
Flaco, the Eurasian owl set free from the Central Park Zoo, died in February. He enjoyed a full year of freedom, hobnobbing through Central Park, the Upper West Side, and having a youthful, experimental phase downtown (a tale as old as time, he may have been looking for a mate).
Experts (the person on the news from the Wild Bird Fund) suspected that he flew into a building and suffered a double concussion: hitting the building before faceplanting on the sidewalk. The zoo performed a necropsy – Flaco appeared thin. Preliminary results indicated the cause of death was a collision with a building. The city is working to pass a bill to protect birds from this fate in the future.
Flaco hatched in North Carolina in 2010. He moved to the Central Park Zoo that year. So did I – I guess we both loaded up a U-Haul van with our mom's golden rod recliner and old twin mattress and headed North, to what we hoped were better opportunities for both our career and personal lives. I moved into a house in Crown Heights that was falling down; Flaco moved into an enclosure the size of a bus stop in the Temperate Territory.
(Incidentally, Flaco and I will both die single. Eurasian owls are not native to North America, and the patriarchy has dulled my heart into having any hope at all. We hung out in the East Village, had a good time, and went back to our original neighborhoods.)
His interior life and the following thirteen years appear unremarkable. Flaco came into the public's consciousness last February, when "one or more people, who have not been caught, damaged Flaco's enclosure at the zoo," allowing him to escape. Bestie, the hubbub.
The NYPD (sent by the Wild Bird Fund) attempted to capture Flaco near the Bergdorf Goodman Building, a few blocks away. (An estimated six-minute walk. Google Maps doesn't calculate the distance by owl flight.) They were unsuccessful. Flaco was spotted the next day in a tree in Central Park, an area he explored at his leisure the rest of the week. He visited the cranes in their enclosure at the zoo. (It's like when the hostess comes back to the restaurant they used to work at and is like, "I used to work here," and you're like, "You're asking me to do things that aren't food safe, can you stop?")
The Zoo tried to capture Flaco but it was unsuccessful. There was a wire trap (and staff with nets) on the ballfields of Central Park. There were recordings of owl calls. He was reluctant to take food from traps as crowds formed – and that's likely true, but I prefer to think that he had wised up after he was nearly caught in the first trap.
An old "friend" only has to "hey babe" you over Facebook Messenger once for you to know it's a scam.
And so, by the third week of February, when Flaco had shown improvement in flight, hunting, and a capability of producing pellets, the Zoo scaled back its efforts to capture him.
He flew around Central Park. He had a favorite tree to roost in. In December he appeared on a playwright's window sill. (CAN YOU IMAGINE.) He flew South but returned to the park. New Yorkers and the Zoo continued to worry: what if he ate a poisoned rat? What if the birders disturbed his livelihood in some way? But he continued to live and represent a form of freedom we mythologize – until he didn't.
Admirers have left cards and mementos under the oak tree Flaco roosted in (East Drive at 104th Street). I am finding out that people who never seemed to give a shit about birds (remember that winter Coney Island had snowy owls?) were regular visitors to the tree. There is also at least one mural, in Freeman Alley near the Bowery. (The irony, with all of Freeman's taxidermied wildlife, does not escape me.) Surely more will follow.
Dribs and Drabs
I put Flaco into Bing and the first hit was Joe Flacco, former Ravens quarterback. Nice.
Flaco's story is similar to Gladys, a Eurasian owl who escaped in Minnesota and died after a collision in 2021.
Regarding moving to a cabin in Alaska and being alone, the somewhat adjacent Shangrilogs Substack is also a fascination. (Especially this post.)
My friend sent me a Reel from Erik Ireland and he reads you bedtime stories.
And we all heard about gay whale sex, right? (Did we all know – I did, of course – that we have limited info about aquatic mammal intercourse.)
In happier bird news, poking around Wikipedia led me to Jackie and Shadow, a famous pair of Eagles in Big Bear Valley (see you soon, Big Bear!) So famous my mom knows who they are, and I would call her a reluctant birder. (I would, generally, say that any knowledge she has that falls under Katherine's Special Interests, except for labor, is reluctant. I don't think LaVonne wanted to know so much about the Titanic, or Pompeii, or the Hello Kitty x Care Bear collab.) Jackie is the first eaglet to hatch in Big Bear!
Also, this Culture Study issue about spending time alone, though I think I get more of that than most.
I would totally do this. I had one successful packing trip and as a result every packed bag since has been a small disaster. (I guess my trip to Copenhagen was pretty good, I did that with a carry-on.)
Taco Bell is built on a throne of LIES?
Linking to Lyz again? YES: "Frankly, this level of chaos is inspiring. Get ready girls, because we are in our Boeing era — screws loose, dangerous to be around, and lacking any and all accountability." I've been there a while, I think, though I aim for ungovernable yet accountable.
I told my friend, "I don't know, if I don't find a job by June I think I have to move," and immediately regretted it. MOVE WHERE? Leave Ciao Gloria? LEAVE MY FRIEND? (Send me your editorial leads, I am not fit for the public but I am fit for the remote office!) I told them, "I'll never leave you." And I'll never leave you, either.
I would be remiss if I didn't make sure everyone saw Ryan Gosling's Oscars performance. The man was robbed.
Lastly, in Alligator News (™?), a man is fighting to get his alligator back after conservation officers seized it in New York.
Always your friend,
Katherine
Sources (MLA 9)
Culgan, Rossilynne Skena. “Here’s How to Honor the Life of Flaco, NYC’s Fallen Owl King.” Time Out New York, Time Out, 26 Feb. 2024, www.timeout.com/newyork/news/heres-how-to-honor-the-life-of-flaco-nycs-fallen-owl-king-022624.
Doubek, James. “New York’s Celebrity Owl Flaco Is Spotted Far from Central Park for the First Time.” NPR, NPR, 7 Nov. 2023, www.npr.org/2023/11/07/1211323216/new-yorks-celebrity-owl-flaco-is-spotted-far-from-central-park-for-the-first-tim.
Fater, Luke. “Mitla Cafe.” Atlas Obscura, Atlas Obscura, 6 Nov. 2019, www.atlasobscura.com/places/mitla-cafe.
“Flaco (OWL).” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 4 Apr. 2024, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flaco_(owl).
“Gladys (Owl).” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 3 Apr. 2024, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gladys_(owl).
Hill, Katherine. “Urban Fauna: Remembering NYC Icon, Pale Male.” Too Loud And Too Old, 1 July 2023, buttondown.email/KatherineMHill/archive/urban-fauna-remembering-nyc-icon-pale-male-8310/.
“Jackie and Shadow.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 19 Mar. 2024, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackie_and_Shadow.
Lenz, Lyz L. Dingus of the Week: Boeing, Men Yell at Me, 15 Mar. 2024, lyz.substack.com/p/dingus-of-the-week-boeing.
“List of Individual Birds.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 28 Mar. 2024, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_individual_birds.
“Listen to Sleep - Free Bedtime Stories & Meditations.” Listen To Sleep - Free Bedtime Stories & Meditations, www.listentosleep.com/. Accessed 5 Apr. 2024.
Listen To Sleep, www.instagram.com/listentosleep/. Accessed 5 Apr. 2024.
Milman, Oliver. “Humpback Sex Photographed for First Time – and Both Whales Were Male.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 28 Feb. 2024, www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/feb/28/humpback-whales-sex-photographed-homosexual-behavior.
Petersen, Anne Helen. “Show up for Yourself First.” Show Up For Yourself First - by Anne Helen Petersen, Culture Study, 18 Feb. 2024, annehelen.substack.com/p/show-up-for-yourself-first.
Press, The Associated. “A New York Man’s Pet Alligator Was Seized after 30 Years. Now, He Wants Albert Back.” NPR, NPR, 20 Mar. 2024, www.npr.org/2024/03/20/1239738593/pet-alligator-seized-albert-new-york.
“Ryan Gosling, Mark Ronson, Slash & the Kens - I’m Just Ken (Live from the Oscars 2024).” YouTube, YouTube, 11 Mar. 2024, www.youtube.com/watch?v=fo6T5BwxFh0.
“Saving Wildlife and Wild Places.” Central Park Zoo, centralparkzoo.com/. Accessed 5 Apr. 2024.
Slepian, Maggie. “I Misread the Forecast and Wore One Shirt for 13 Days.” The Strategist, The Strategist, 5 Mar. 2024, nymag.com/strategist/article/smartwool-active-ultralite-tank-review.html.
Slepian, Maggie. “I Misread the Forecast and Wore One Shirt for 13 Days.” The Strategist, The Strategist, 5 Mar. 2024, nymag.com/strategist/article/smartwool-active-ultralite-tank-review.html.
Wild Bird Fund, 31 Aug. 2023, www.wildbirdfund.org/.
Wright, Kelton. “But Does It Have Character? - #31.” Shangrilogs, Shangrilogs, 27 Mar. 2022, shangrilogs.substack.com/p/but-does-it-have-character-31.
Wright, Kelton. “Kelton Wright: Substack.” Shangrilogs, shangrilogs.substack.com/. Accessed 5 Apr. 2024.