It’s been nearly a week since Flaco the owl died.
The Eurasian eagle-owl initially captured the city’s attention after he escaped from the Central Park Zoo last February.
But last Friday, many New Yorkers were saddened to hear about the beloved bird’s untimely death.
It was first assumed that Flaco had flown into a building, but the lack of evidence of head trauma has many birders thinking otherwise.
After a necropsy, the Wildlife Conservation Society revealed that the “initial findings are consistent with death due to acute traumatic injury. The main impact appears to have been to the body. There also was a small amount of bleeding behind the left eye, but otherwise there was no evidence of head trauma.”
However, Flaco’s death has now drawn attention to bird strikes and bird safety design strategies on buildings in New York.
NY1 got many comments on Instagram from people saddened by Flaco’s death — and from people who had a chance to see Flaco around the city.
NY1 received one message that said, “When I heard Flaco had died, I grieved that he’d never found love, despite looking for it in all the wrong places.”
Dustin Partridge, director of conservation and science at NYC Audubon, and Robert Fuller, an architect and principal at Gensler, joined “The Rush Hour” on Thursday to weigh in on how “New York is Talking” about bird safety protections on city buildings.