It IS A Bird!

Anyone who might be entitled to half fare on New York City transit will remember he opening lines to the T.V. series Superman starring George Reeves in the '50s...'It's a bird, it's a plane..."

But right now, it IS a bird. More specifically, an orange-eyed Eurasian eagle-owl named Flaco with a six foot wingspan that since February somehow got out of his enclosure in the Central Park Zoo and ever since has been making appearances all over Manhattan. He's captured the attention of anyone in Manhattan whose windows might be clean enough to see through. 

He's news. Even The Wall Street Journal just did an A-Hed piece on his sightings, complete with a map of where he's been spotted. He's popping up in more places than Chick-fil-As.

The astounding photo at the top of this posting was made on an X feed from @PBeiboer on December 2, "It's official...UWS [Upper West Side] has a new undisputed king...welcome Flaco to my hood! #birdcentralpark"

@Above96th Street follows with a 12/3 reposting, along with @Sarahlyall who tells us: "Forget Batman. Flaco is keeping Gotham safe now." It's like this all over the city. Social media is abuzz with his sightings.

As usual, the A-Hed piece is filled with puns. I always wonder if the reporter thinks of these on their own, or does the WSJ employ a pun master who inserts words like: "Flaco the owl has become a peeping Tom." "He's become  a true nosy New Yorker, a bit of a hoot and a real owl about town." (Night and day owl, I guess.) "His case has become a hoo-dunnit." "Well, that was a hoot."

It was feared when Flaco escaped and resisted efforts to come back that he was going to starve. He's only ever been fed by humans. But nature takes care of its own, and the owl's appetite for rodents has kept him healthy looking. New York city claims to be getting its arms around its persistent rodent problem with better garbage containers, but Flaco knows where to look.

In New York, there is always someone who knows something you don't.  Think Flaco has just been soiling your air conditioner.? No, there are clues there.

An actress has posted videos of Flaco. Could she tell if he was ill? Through her window the actress "examined the color of his droppings and eyed his vomit, pellets made of rat bones, rat fur and other things he can't digest." This is what I mean about New Yorkers. They bring a level of expertise to everything. 

Verdict? Flaco is fine.

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