Long-Eared Owls, Built for Stealth, Often Go Unnoticed

Francois Portmann A long-eared owl in Central Park in December.

The long-eared owl’s plumage is a tapestry of warm and cool grays, tawny browns and chestnut highlights. Some of nature’s most lavish camouflage, it is as close to bark as a bird can produce.

Slender, especially for an owl, the long-eared (Asio otus) strikes a cryptic, leaning posture while perched. Its silhouette is further obscured by conspicuous ear tufts that extend the smooth curve of the owl’s head into one of the best imitations of a broken branch found in nature. If disturbed, the bird can stretch out its already slender proportions, and raising its ear tufts, disappear, Cheshire cat-like, leaving only a pair of searing yellow eyes looking down from a tree.

The owl’s jagged markings adorn soft feathers, which are intended, in part, to absorb flight noise. Even the flight feathers (or primaries) are edged in soft wisps, which make the bird’s hunting silent and deadly. A mouse’s worst nightmare, owls like the long-eared can hunt in utter darkness, using keen eyesight and hearing heightened by a fascinating bit of anatomy. The long-eared’s “ears” are actually feather tufts that scientists believe evolved in owls to break up their outlines. The position of the actual ears bears no relationship to the location of the feathered ones.

Instead, the owl has ear openings along the outer edge of its facial disk (the radar-dish-like frame of an owl’s face), one closer to the top of the head and one closer to the bottom. This gives the bird a sort of three-dimensional hearing â€" it can accurately measure the minute difference in time required for sound to reach one ear as opposed to the other â€" and through this means, locate the smallest rodents in the largest fields.

Long-eared owls are strictly nocturnal, preferring to roost by day under thick cover, often in evergreens like hollies, cedars and pines. Winter visitors to New York City, the birds make great neighbors, often unnoticed in densely populated places like Central Park or Pelham Bay in the Bronx.

A long-eared owl will use a roost for days, even weeks at a time if left undisturbed. Though the owl is well camouflaged, its leavings are not. Experienced bird watchers look for “whitewash,” the owl’s dried excrement, which can be obvious even in dark woodlands. Lacking teeth, owls swallow their prey whole, so bones, hair and other undigestibles are packaged neatly into one- to two-inch pellets and regurgitated. Find several of these under a winter pine tree and you have a bird to look for.

It is unfortunately easy to harass owls. Often, their preferred perch turns out to be at or near eye level, which leaves them subject to both accidental and willful disturbance. Owls will often allow observers a very close view, appearing uninterested. Research indicates this is not true. The bird’s faith in its camouflage is its main protection. A harassed bird will often suddenly abandon its perch, forcing it into the open air, where it becomes a target for blue jays’ and crows’ persecution. Observe an owl respectfully, with binoculars, from a dozen or more feet away, and it may afford you the pleasure of another visit.

An Odd Couple, Separated by 55 Years, but Not by Much Else

Karsten Moran for The New York Times Gene Bonagur, right, and Hector Castillo, are different in many ways. But they have become the closest of friends, having dinner together on a regular basis.

It was after midnight on a recent night at Sevilla, a Spanish restaurant in the West Village, and waiters wandered the aisles, watching the last two diners finish their second pitcher of sangria.

Gene Bonagur and Hector Castillo were in no hurry.

“Yeah, I’ll have a bit more,” Mr. Bonagur said as Mr. Castillo held the pitcher to pour.

“With the fruit, right?” Mr. Castillo offered, spooning out soused orange slices.

After the third or fourth toast of the evening, Mr. Castillo grabbed Mr. Bonagur’s Sinatra-era fedora, helped him with his overcoat and escorted him to a waiting white Explorer. “I hired a driver tonight as a special surprise,” Mr. Castillo said. “Why not?

That could be their motto.

Every Sunday, without fail, Mr. Castillo, who just turned 47, takes Mr. Bonagur, who just turned 102, out to dinner. Sometimes to neighborhood restaurants in Yonkers, where they both live, sometimes to an ethnic place in Queens or a trendy restaurant in Manhattan or to their favorite, Honey Thai’s Pavilion in the Bronx.

Nights tend to run long. Sometimes, afterward Mr. Castillo will take Mr. Bonagur to see the U.S.S. Intrepid on the Hudson River or somewhere new for dessert. Mr. Bonagur is always game. Sure, he says. Why not?

Every Thursday, on the other hand, is boys’ night in. That’s when Mr. Castillo picks up a bottle of red and swings by Mr. Bonagur’s home, a Cape Cod-style house he had built for his bride in 1950. Mr. Bonagur, who keeps his own house, cooks up quite a feast for Mr. Castillo. He favors meat and potatoes. They always sip their “red water.” Don’t ask. It’s their joke.

Yes, they are an improbable pair, as odd as those interspecies pals â€" dog and pigeon, cat and duck, horse and kitten â€" that have become staples on Internet videos. Mr. Castillo, who owns a Getty gas station in Yonkers, didn’t know any English when he moved to New York from El Salvador at age 16. Mr. Bonagur, who was a graduate student in physics at Columbia University when he joined the Army during World War II, was chairman of the science department at Albert Leonard High School in New Rochelle. He retired at 65.

They met at Mr. Castillo’s business several years ago. Mr. Bonagur, a customer, asked Mr. Castillo to help him get rid of his 1992 Olds Cutlass Ciera and pick out a more reliable car, eventually a Toyota Camry. Then Mr. Bonagur (who drives only around his neighborhood) asked Mr. Castillo if he could drive his wife, Ruth, to the doctor in Scarsdale, a few times.

When Mr. Bonagur’s wife â€" of 63 years â€" died, Mr. Castillo went to the funeral and the two bonded.

That was about five years ago.

“We just clicked,” Mr. Castillo said.

That two men of such different generations and backgrounds should be thick as blood makes sense once you know them. Mr. Castillo was raised by his maternal grandparents, who would be nearly Mr. Bonagur’s age now if they were alive. He found it completely natural to spend time with a healthy, smart older man.

Karsten Moran for The New York Times Mr. Bonagur and Mr. Castillo like to sample different restaurants, but a Thai place in the Bronx is one of their regular haunts.

Mr. Bonagur, whose only age limitations are some hearing loss and bad knees, was relieved to meet someone who didn’t treat him as if he had nothing to say. As the two began spending time together â€" Mr. Bonagur has no children or relatives who live nearby â€" he discovered an intelligent, like-minded soul.

“They don’t come better than Hector,” he said, as Mr. Castillo blushed to his hairline.

Their twice-weekly boys’ nights evolved, though they see each other times as well.

And every Sunday feels like a holiday. Mr. Castillo picks the menu and keeps ordering. (His only rule: he treats.) The two are always joking. Both dress dapper. Both flirt.

“I’d walk her down the aisle,” Mr. Bonagur said at Sevilla, his face lighting up at a pretty face.

“Gene! You need a ring!” Mr. Castillo said.

“I’ve got one,” Mr. Bonagur said.

Mr. Bonagur is still house proud. He insisted that Mr. Castillo give a visitor a tour of his house, a pin-neat, midcentury time capsule.

“Show her the Camaro!” Mr. Bonagur said.

Mr. Bonagur still keeps his late wife’s mint 1972 metallic green convertible.

People have accused Mr. Castillo of hanging out with Mr. Bonagur so he could buy or inherit that car.

Potential girlfriends have accused him of a father fixation.

Woe to any woman who nags Mr. Castillo for spending time with Mr. Bonagur. One that did â€" “She was a doctor!” Mr. Castillo said â€" is no longer part of his life.

“I would break up with any girlfriend who came between us,” Mr. Castillo said.

Indeed, Mr. Castillo’s current girlfriend, a 17-year veteran of the New York Police Department, said she had learned to leave the two alone.

“They’ve got their nights and their time,” she said. (She did not want her name revealed, she said, because of her job.) “They do tend to stay out,” she said.

Case in point: After Sevilla, Mr. Castillo dropped Mr. Bonagur off at 1 a.m.

When Mr. Castillo escorted Mr. Bonagur to his door, he had to scold him.

“Do you believe Gene keeps shoveling his own walk?! Gene, please, you’re gonna give me and you a heart attack when you do that!”

“Heh, heh,” Mr. Bonagur said. “See you Thursday.”

Karsten Moran for The New York Times The two men met when Mr. Bonagur asked for  Mr. Castillo’s help in selling his car.

Big Ticket | A Photographer’s Refuge for $28.5 Million

Ozier Muhammad/The New York Times 755 Greenwich Street is part of a West Village compound sold by Annie Leibovitz.

The quaint collage of ivy-covered brick townhouses that the celebrity photographer Annie Leibovitz assembled in the West Village a decade ago and eventually transformed into a leafy compound where she lived, worked and entertained guests, sold for $28.5 million in two separate deals to the same buyer and was the most expensive sale of the week, according to city records.

The 10,200-square-foot property incorporates a trio of interconnected structures (two of them matching 20-foot-wide brick townhouses at 755-757 Greenwich Street) and a separate guesthouse at 311 West 11th Street, all linked by a private courtyard off West 11th Street; it is formally known by its 755 Greenwich Street address. Originally listed at $33 million at the close of 2012, it most recently had an asking price of $29.9 million. The annual property taxes are $56,754. City records show the Greenwich Street buildings and an annex at 305-307 West 11th Street selling for $23.5 million and the 311 West 11th Street townhouse for $5 million.

The fully renovated 16-room compound has seven bedrooms, five baths, a powder room, 13 fireplaces and a south-facing garden and slate patio. The townhouse at 757 Greenwich was Ms. Leibovitz’s primary residence. The main level has a living room with two fireplaces and wide-plank floors, as well as a dining room; it connects to the so-called annex, which has a chef’s kitchen on the main floor and a duplex guest suite upstairs. The master suite, on the second floor of the main house above the living room, has a fireplace, walk-in closets, a full bath and a den with a fireplace. The den opens onto a sunroom and also has a door to the adjacent townhouse at 755 Greenwich, where Ms. Leibovitz had her photography studio, a reception gallery and other office space.

The parlor floor has two fireplaces, lofty ceilings and a rear window overlooking the courtyard.

Maria Pashby, Joanna Pashby and Louis Buckworth of the Corcoran Group were the listing brokers. Ms. Leibovitz, whose financial woes were made public in 2009 when a $24 million debt threatened to send the compound into foreclosure, used a limited-liability company, 305-307 West 11th Street. The anonymous buyer was represented by Robby Browne of Corcoran. “Never have I seen a home in my 32 years in the business where you see leaves and trees from every window, even the cellar,” Maria Pashby said.

Big Ticket includes closed sales from the previous week, ending Wednesday.

A version of this article appears in print on 01/12/2014, on page RE2 of the NewYork edition with the headline: A Photographer’s Refuge .

A Child’s Vote for New York

Dear Diary:

Midtown, Sunday, Dec. 8.

Just as a light dusting of snow began to fall, the close crush of bodies crossing Seventh Avenue at West 35th Street surged around a young couple, speaking French, and two small daughters, all holding hands.

Some of us, quickening our pace to get out of the thickening flakes, were checked by the tiny, bemittened human barrier, mid-intersection. The tension of the moment dissolved when one of the girls, swaying a little, her arms straining to hold on, piped up, “I love New York City!”

Read all recent entries and our updated submissions guidelines. Reach us via email diary@nytimes.com or follow @NYTMetro on Twitter using the hashtag #MetDiary.

New York Today: New at the Zoo

Good cloudy Friday morning to you.

After all the bad weather and commuting woes and fractious politics of recent days, it’s time for an animal story.

A pint-sized deer. A turtle with a big head. Frisking snow leopards. Graceful cranes. Bounding baby baboons.

Let’s take a trip around the zoos of New York City, where we find a host of new faces (and tails):

- Demoiselle cranes: The Prospect Park Zoo welcomed three this week. The demoiselle looks as dainty as its name, but it is one tough bird: It migrates over the Himalayas.

- Southern pudu: Tiny deer native to Chile and Argentina, pudu top out at just 14 inches high. One was born over the summer at the Queens Zoo. Pudu bark when they sense danger and can climb fallen trees.

- Chinese big-headed turtles: This endangered turtle’s ability to hide from poachers is hindered by a head so big it cannot be withdrawn inside its shell. Five hatched at Prospect Park Zoo in November. See video.

- Mandrill: Back home in West Africa, these primates are a sought-after species of bush meat. At the Bronx Zoo’s Congo Gorilla Forest, life for a year-old mandrill is a little easier.

- Kaiser’s spotted newt: Found only in a five-square-mile region of Iran â€" maybe. It might be extinct in the wild. Five now reside at the Prospect Park Zoo.

- Sea lions: Four California sea lions stranded on the West Coast were brought to the Queens and Prospect Park Zoos recently, and a female was born at the Bronx Zoo in June. Wave a flipper.

- Hamadryas baboons: Two were born in late summer at the Prospect Park Zoo. Helicopter baboon moms find that the babies’ tails make great makeshift leashes.

- Leopard cubs: Two pair is a high hand in the world of critically endangered leopard cubs, and New York’s got them. Male and female snow leopards were born at the Central Park Zoo last summer. And the siblings Valeri and Kolya debuted at the Staten Island Zoo’s new Amur leopard exhibit in November.

Here’s what else you need to know for Friday and the weekend.

WEATHER

Back to the grab-bag: maybe a bit of snow, or sleet, or freezing rain, or rain, with a high of 44.

A very rainy, possibly floody Saturday could see an April-like high of 58, the warmest it’s been since… way back on Monday, when it hit 55.

Remember? What a week.

Sunday: cooler and clearing.

COMMUTE

Subways: Check latest status.

Rails: Check L.I.R.R., Metro-North or New Jersey Transit status.

Roads: Check traffic map or radio report on the 1s or the 8s.

Alternate-side parking is in effect.

Weekend Travel Hassles: Check subway disruptions or list of street closings.

DE BLASIO WATCH

From Kate Taylor of the City Hall bureau of The Times:

- The mayor heads to the borough least sympathetic to his fiercely liberal agenda: Staten Island. He holds a roundtable with residents at Goodfellas Pizza at 1 p.m.

- Mr. de Blasio criticized Gov. Chris Christie, saying that the revelation that Christie aides created a traffic jam for revenge raised “bigger questions” about his leadership. [Politicker]

- Developers, lobbyists, and members of the taxi industry gave generously to Mr. de Blasio’s transition and inauguration. [Politicker]

COMING UP TODAY

- A rally on the steps of City Hall against the police union’s effort to overturn the law reining in stop and frisk. Noon.

- The last day for Governor Cuomo to sign a bill tightening regulations of pet stores and so-called puppy mills. The A.S.P.C.A. is running a campaign to get people to urge the governor to sign the bill.

- Ben Stiller and the author George Saunders talk about comedy, satire, and hope at the McNally Jackson bookstore in SoHo. 7 p.m. [Free]

- Two film festivals: The African Diaspora International Film Festival at various venues, mostly uptown. [$12 per film, and up]

- First Look 2014, a showcase of new international cinema, at the Museum of the Moving Image. [$10 per film ]

- Export New Orleans kicks off at the Cutting Room in Midtown with brass bands galore. 7 p.m. [$25]

- The New York Guitar Festival begins with a performance by the classical guitarist Pepe Romero at Brookfield Place in Lower Manhattan. 8 p.m. [Free]

- For more events, see The New York Times Arts & Entertainment guide.

IN THE NEWS

- Bridgegate has yielded a class-action suit, filed by people affected by the highly suspicious George Washington Bridge access lane closures and their resulting traffic jams. [Politico]

- An Indian diplomat flew home after being indicted in New York on charges of making false statements about her treatment of a housekeeper here. [New York Times]

- Sloan-Kettering and other leading cancer centers are not exactly rushing to get on board with the governor’s medical marijuana plan. [Capital New York]

- Scoreboard: the suddenly unstoppable Knicks beat the Heat, 102-92. Devils dim Stars, 2-1.

Joseph Burgess and Annie Correal contributed reporting.

New York Today is a morning roundup that stays live from 6 a.m. till late morning.

What would you like to see here to start your day? Post a comment, email us at nytoday@nytimes.com or reach us via Twitter using #NYToday.

Find us on weekdays at nytoday.com.