A northern hawk owl photographed south of Ottawa in early March. Everyone knows about Flaco the Eurasian Eagle Owl that was released from captivity and living and hunting in Central Park for about one year. Doing very well on its own until recently. Flaco was found to have a high level of rat poison from consuming rodenticide laced rats in and near its hunting grounds. In addition, the owl had high levels of a pigeon virus. It doesn’t affect pigeons but only birds of prey that eat pigeons. The above would also contribute to the owls flying abilities including avoiding obstacles such as buildings. The caution here is to try and avoid using rat poison as it can ultimately be deadly to anything that may end up eating them.