New York City loves its raptors. (Perhaps it’s affinity.) The Red-tailed hawk Pale Male was a Central Park folk hero for years. More recently, there was Flaco. A Eurasian eagle owl, he escaped from the Central Park Zoo in February 2023 and refused to be recaptured. Instead he learned to hunt and relished his freedom. The city was heartbroken when he died in February of 2024, on the Upper West Side. This exhibition at the recently renamed New York Historical remembers Flaco with photographs, video, and an installation of his favorite oak tree along with the mementos left there after he died. The show takes up issues of bird safety in the city, and a related installation showcases the museum’s Audubon prints of owls, primarily those found in New York. Think Barred, Great-horned, Eastern Screech, Northern Saw-whet, Barn, and sometimes Long-eared. —Laura Jacobs