The book of Flaco The world's most famous bird

On the night of February 2, 2023, a person or persons unknown cut the steel mesh of an exhibit at the Central Park Zoo. Flaco, a Eurasian eagle owl (who had lived there for 13 years) escaped and famously remained on the lam in and around Central Park for a full year before his death. Essayist and nature writer Gessner tells Flaco's story, from his gradually figuring out how to fly (landing was a particular problem) and how to feed himself (first evidence, he spit out an owl pellet). An instant celebrity in today's digital age, Flaco existed, as Gessner observes, in two realms, Central Park and the internet. The owl provoked heated opinions. Keep him free! He belongs back at the Zoo! Too many people are crowding him! He also inspired beautiful photographs, many of which illustrate the book. Gessner talked to the people who knew and loved Flaco best, and as he tells the owl's story, we also get the story of New York's birders and the fleeting light of cyber fame.

Gessner (A Traveler's Guide to the End of the World), a creative writing professor at the University of North Carolina, Wilmington, delivers a vibrant account of how Flaco, the Eurasian eagle-owl who escaped his Central Park Zoo enclosure in 2023 and died a year later from a pigeon herpes virus that caused him to fall from a 10-story building, captured the hearts of New Yorkers. Profiling the birders who kept tabs on Flaco, Gessner describes how, for months, Anke Frohlich spent her nights lugging heavy photographic equipment to Central Park so she could take pictures of the owl until the park closed at 1 a.m. Gessner surveys the heated debates stirred by Flaco, discussing how some petitioned for the owl's recapture, worrying he wouldn't survive on his own, while others argued he should remain free. The detection of rodenticides at Flaco's autopsy served as "a Rachel Carson-esque warning," Gessner contends, detailing how the discovery led to a new city law promoting the use of rat contraceptive pellets, which are less harmful to other animals, over poison. Gessner offers a panoramic overview of the bird's impact on the environment, the law, and everyday New Yorkers, as well as providing shrewd insight into why Flaco attracted so many fans, suggesting that the owl's story tapped into the desire "in each of us... to break out of the lives we find ourselves trapped in." Flaco's admirers will flock to this. (Feb.)

The story of the owl that escaped from a New York zoo and fascinated the city. Flaco, a Eurasian eagle-owl, escaped from the Central Park Zoo in February 2023 after someone cut open his enclosure. He lived free in and around Central Park--with forays to other parts of the city--eating rats, pigeons, and other small game that he caught. The zoo tried to recapture him but ceased its efforts after public opinion began to swing in favor of letting the bird remain free. During his year of freedom, Flaco became a sort of avian celebrity, fascinating people in the city and beyond; many followed his adventures online, thanks to bird-watchers who spent their nights tracking him. Those bird-watchers are the primary sources for Gessner, an author and journalist who never actually saw Flaco in the flesh. The responses of the birding community are as much the focus of the book as Flaco himself. Two factions emerged: One wanted to spread news of Flaco as widely as possible, and the other looked to shield the bird from public scrutiny. Gessner gives both sides a sympathetic portrayal, along with those whose interest in birds was much more casual until Flaco appeared. Drawing on his own experience of observing ospreys in the wild while researching an earlier book, the author also puts Flaco's story in the wider context of the ecological movement and looks at whether we can justly make parallels between humans and wild animals. A well-told story of the bird that captured the imagination of New York and much of the world. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.