For centuries, owls were considered to bring bad luck in many cultures as well as in the US, but the outpouring of grief in New York over Flaco shows how times have changed

By Arjun Guneratne, Macalester College

There has been an outpouring of grief in New York City ever since the beloved Eurasian eagle-owl Flaco died on Feb. 23, 2024, after striking a building. In 2023, after escaping from Central Park Zoo, Flaco survived for over a year on his own, captivating New Yorkers.

Mourners are leaving notes and flowers at the base of an old oak tree in Central Park, reportedly a favorite roost of his. Thousands have signed a petition for a statue in his honor. Figure skaters honored him with a show called “Fly. Be Free.”

This reaction to Flaco’s death would be mystifying for many people around the world. I have spent a decade studying the history of ornithology in Sri Lanka, including local beliefs in the owl as a bird that foretells deaths. Meanwhile, in some societies, owls were (and are) seen as a symbol of wisdom or even a sign of good luck.

But, by far, the most widespread belief about owls is that they are associated with witchcraft and death.

In much of the world – in African societies, among African Americans in the U.S. South and the Indigenous people of the Americas, and throughout South and Southeast Asia as well as in Europe – owls are seen as harbingers of death. The Cajuns, French-speaking refugees who settled in Louisiana’s bayou country after being driven out of Nova Scotia by the British, feared the screech of an owl.

The American philosopher Henry David Thoreau wrote in his book “Walden” that owls “represent the stark twilight and unsatisfied thoughts which all have.” Nineteenth and early 20th century Americans were more likely to shoot an owl as an undesirable predator than leave flowers at a memorial for one. But Flaco’s year of fame shows the sea change in the way Western cultures have come to regard owls since Thoreau’s time.

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