Donna
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« on: 20-Nov-09, 06:45:18 AM » |
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Faneuil Hall Marketplace has a new mascot.
An owl has made the shopping and dining district its new hooting grounds, hanging out for about a month. And it fits right in at the popular tourist trap -- people-watching, sampling the local fare, and even recently checking out the mall’s new 87-foot Christmas tree.
“He’s very friendly,” said Rebecca Stoddard, the marketing director for the mall. “He floats around and oversees everything. You can see his head moving as he actually watches everyone go by.”
The barred owl was first spotted in a tree near the North Market building in mid-October. Security officers and merchants took note, thinking the owl was a one-day novelty. But it kept showing up.
“He’s been here for about a month, living at the marketplace,” Stoddard said. “Originally, we spotted him in the North Market, then he made his way over to South Market.”
When workers propped up a Norwegian spruce on the plaza last Thursday, the owl took notice. On Tuesday, it perched about 15 feet up the tree and supervised the workers as they strung lights nearby.
“It seemed the owl had come to pay us a visit,” said John Egan, owner of the New York tree farm that is installing and decorating the tree. “He flew in, sat on the branch, and watched.”
Egan’s son, James, said he worked about five feet from the owl for nearly an hour, before realizing it was there.
Owls and other predatory birds, such as hawks and falcons, are sometimes known to settle in Boston, said Chris Leahy, a bird expert with the Mass Audubon Society. Red-tailed hawks have nested at Fenway Park and snowy owls at Logan Airport.
“It’s a striking phenomenon, but it’s not particularly unusual,” said Leahy, noting the raptors feed on the city’s rodent population.
“They’ve figured out that cities are actually a really good place to make a living,” he said.
Tom French, assistant director of MassWildlife, said the marketplace’s owl, which can grow up to 14 inches tall with a three-foot wingspan, is probably a newborn.
“Barred owls that were born this summer disperse, and sometimes have no particular place to go. They get confused,” he said. “But this guy is just visiting. He won’t be there in the spring.”
In the meantime, the marketplace community has adopted the owl.
“Everyone has a different name. The management calls him 'Fanowl,' like Faneuil Hall; merchants call her 'Holly;'” Stoddard said. “But 'Hooter' is the consensus.”
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