Jacqueline Emery, chair and associate professor in the English Department, has co-authored a photo book about Flaco the owl, a Eurasian eagle-owl who in 2023 was released from his long-time enclosure at the Central Park Zoo in New York City and for the next year resided in and around Central Park.
The book, "Finding Flaco: Our Year with New York City's Beloved Owl," was written by Emery and fellow part-time professional wildlife photographer David Lei. The work illustrates Flaco’s journey through hundreds of photos and observations starting from his release from the zoo in February 2023, to surviving in in the city’s urban jungle, learning to fly and hunt until his passing in February 2024.
“We typically visited him at night, to see him fly out and hunt in Central Park,” said Emery during a February 2025 presentation she and Lei gave on campus. “At night, he would hunt at a construction site by the Harlem Meer, where workers would hang pictures of him in a trailer. He really liked to perch on machinery, including an excavator; we would joke that boys love their toys.”
Flaco’s escape attracted significant public and press attention during his year in the wild until he died in 2024 on Manhattan's Upper West Side. “Finding Flaco: Our Year with New York City's Beloved Owl” features more than 200 photos of Flaco and showcases stories and artwork by some of Flaco’s most ardent admirers.
Emery and Lei also offer insights in the book from their observations of wild Eurasian eagle-owls in Spain, Germany, and the Netherlands, along with conversations with local conservationists and researchers.
A lengthy review of their work was featured in The New York Times on January 14, 2025.
In addition to "Finding Flaco," Emery edited “Recovering Native American Writings in the Boarding School Press," which won the Ray & Pat Browne Award for Best Edited Collection in Popular Culture and American Culture from the Popular Culture Association & American Culture Association.
Emery volunteers with New York City Plover Project and supports the New York City Bird Alliance, each formally known respectively as the NYC Audubon, and the Wild Bird Fund.