TAKING FLIGHT
A few days before filming with Martin Scorsese, Donovan Meeks and his female owl, Eli (rhymes with “steely”), are at Lewis Park in University City, hanging out in the shade. There’s a low metal perch set up on the grass; Eli stands atop it, alert, squawking every five or six seconds. “That’s just a baby squawk,” Meeks says.
On this April afternoon, Eli, a Eurasian eagle-owl, is less than a year old but already has a high-profile gig lined which is currently in production in Oklahoma. Her job will be to fly into a house through an open window. Meeks has trained her to do this, but he knows she won’t cooperate if she’s feeling full and plump. So the idea today is for Eli to exercise. He takes her onto his forearm and into a clearing. She unfolds her 6-pound body and flaps off, landing on the back of a nearby house.
