Freedom has been a hoot, but can Flaco the owl survive New York City?

The Eurasian eagle owl has been living in Central Park since escaping the zoo, and just returned from a Lower East Side visit

“Is he back?” Russell Davis exclaimed, as he spotted a group of people looking up at a tree during his afternoon bike ride. Davis stopped in his tracks, dismounted and joined the onlookers admiring a statuesque owl with piercing orange eyes and unmistakable ear tufts. New York’s Central Park has experienced a homecoming of sorts, perhaps even a minor Thanksgiving miracle – the return of the beloved celebrity bird known as Flaco.

Since February, the Eurasian eagle owl had been living wild after fleeing the Central Park zoo, where he had been an exhibit for 13 years, after his enclosure was vandalized.