Flaco spent a 12 months defying expectations, an owl born into captivity who shortly discovered to hunt and fend for himself within the wilds of New York City. That ended on Friday when he flew right into a constructing close to Central Park. What went fallacious?
Did he hit a window that he did not understand as glass, like tons of of hundreds of thousands of birds throughout the United States annually? Or was he compromised in a roundabout way that impeded his capacity to navigate New York’s concrete canyons?
A full necropsy, to be carried out by the Wildlife Conservation Society, will take weeks. Initial findings have been “consistent with death due to acute traumatic injury,” the group stated on Saturday night.
The primary influence seems to have been to the physique, with substantial hemorrhage. There was additionally a small quantity of bleeding behind the left eye. Flaco’s physique situation appeared good. He weighed 4.1 kilos, solely barely lower than his final recorded weight of 4.2 kilos on the Central Park Zoo, his longtime dwelling.
“Flaco’s tragic and untimely death highlights the issue of bird strikes and their devastating effects on wild bird populations,” the zoo stated in a press release. “It is estimated that nearly one quarter of a million birds die annually in New York City as a result of colliding with buildings.”
The subsequent step will probably be to determine any underlying elements that will have contributed to his demise. The outcomes of testing on tissue samples — together with toxicology checks to guage potential exposures to rodenticides or different poisonous substances, and testing for avian flu and different ailments — are anticipated in coming weeks.
Poisoning by rodenticide, lead and even an sickness might have all contributed to his demise, stated Rita McMahon, director of the Wild Bird Fund, the rescue group that first responded on Friday. Sluggish, poisoned rats make simple targets for birds of prey, which in flip ingest the poison.
Barry, the movie star barred owl in Central Park who died after colliding with a automotive in 2021, was discovered to have excessive ranges of rat poison in her system.
Pigeons, which Flaco had been seen looking just lately, can ingest excessive ranges of lead whereas pecking across the metropolis. Lead can accumulate in birds of prey, inflicting lack of coordination, weak spot and different signs. Poisoned birds develop into extra weak to predation, trauma and different ailments, based on the Cornell Wildlife Health Lab.
Moreover, Flaco might have been contaminated with a extremely pathogenic type of avian flu that has been wreaking havoc on birds and even some mammals all over the world.
While Flaco was distinctive, having escaped from a zoo, birds of prey have been more and more adapting to life in cities over the previous few many years. New York is dwelling to substantial breeding populations of red-tailed hawks, peregrine falcons, American kestrels and osprey, based on NYC Audubon.
Three species of owl stay within the metropolis’s parks. For a 12 months, with Flaco, a Eurasian eagle-owl, it had been 4.
As Flaco’s legions of followers grieve his demise, chicken advocates hope the loss will jolt the general public into making cities safer for birds.
“We celebrate these creatures,” Ms. McMahon stated, pointing not solely to Flaco, but in addition to Barry the barred owl and a bald eagle named Rover that reportedly died a number of days in the past. “In essence, they probably will all die from human interference, from things we’ve done.”
Bird-friendly glass, turning off lights at evening and avoiding using anticoagulant rodenticide can all assist, consultants emphasize. To defend smaller birds, maintain cats inside.
“That’s the one good thing that can happen,” Ms. McMahon stated. “Often you have to lose something to care about it.”
Source: www.nytimes.com