Dear future reader of Finding Flaco,

As you may already know, we observed Flaco the Eurasian eagle-owl continuously beginning the night of his release from the Central Park Zoo by vandals until he passed away nearly 13 months later. Flaco’s resilience, intelligence, curiosity and, of course, his beauty, were deeply inspiring to us. And he was incredibly generous, often permitting us to observe him live his new life as a wild owl until late into the night.

We first started working on a Flaco photo book in 2023. After he passed away, we were unsure about continuing the project but we decided to proceed. It is important to us to celebrate Flaco’s accomplishments, honor his memory with authenticity and sincerity, and do something for the benefit of birds.

We amassed thousands of photos of Flaco and are showcasing more than 200 in the book. Many photos will be familiar to you, though we carefully re-edited them to take advantage of the printed format. There are also quite a number of previously unpublished photos (and untold stories). Finally, in addition to our own words and photos, the book includes photos by friends and anecdotes about what Flaco meant to them. We want the book to be something we can cherish forever and hope you will feel the same way.

Owl the best,
Jacqueline Emery and David Lei