LI expert takes his birds to Brooklyn

Frightened or perhaps hungry for prey in Brooklyn's Prospect Park, a Eurasian eagle owl leaped from its perch and flapped its wings mightily, creating a flurry of feathers and panicking some onlookers before a news conference Thursday.

The Long Island man who had nursed it back to health met the situation with calm, towing the owl back by its tether and soothing it.

Bobby Horvath, 49, a licensed wildlife rehabilitator who has cared for hundreds of such birds out of his North Massapequa home, had brought seven of his rescued raptors to promote an annual celebration of birds to be held Sunday at Prospect Park.

"This is just a sample of what you'll see, a fraction of what will be there," he said, gesturing to the birds he brought. Among them were a year-old, 11-pound bald eagle and a 6-year-old, 31/2-ounce screech owl.

One dozen species of hawks, falcons, owls, vultures and other birds will take to the skies Sunday at Raptor Fest, which seeks to educate children about winged wildlife, parks department officials said. The free 14th annual event, hosted by the Urban Park Rangers and the Prospect Park Audubon Center, will be held from noon to 3 p.m. at the Nethermead meadow.

The participating birds, which cannot survive in the wild and are trained to return to their caretakers, will include a bald eagle named Freedom and a turkey vulture named Barf for its natural defense mechanism of vomiting, said city parks department Commissioner Adrian Benepe.

Benepe on Thursday donned bird-handling gloves to release in the wild a red-tailed hawk rehabilitated by Horvath. Two dozen fifth-graders in attendance christened the 6-month-old hawk "Ruby" before it took flight, swooping low past them and then veering high above them into its new life.

"Some people think it's a paradox that there are wild creatures living in the city," said Benepe, noting that many raptors call New York City home and prey on rats, squirrels and pigeons. "That's nature. It's like watching a nature show right in the park."

Benepe joked with the students: "You don't have to worry. Raptors don't eat children."

Eni Mosake, 10, of St. Saviour Elementary School in Park Slope, seemed only mildly reassured. "They were kind of scary," he said. Eni added Horvath had taught him "that a bald eagle is big at a young age."

Another animal lover at the event, Oskana Moulle-Berteau, 4, was mystified that Horvath could host so many large birds at his home.

Oskana considered a similar situation at her Park Slope home and said it'd be possible, but "only if they're like baby ones, because we don't have much room."