"When I'd be there, he'd swivel his neck around like, 'oh, you're there now' - he was the most gorgeous thing I've ever seen," Knighton said.
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Knighton's husband, John Breglio was also there when Flaco, the Eurasian eagle-owl everyone has come to adore simply showed up at the couple's building on the Upper East Side.
"His eyes were laser-focused on us, which I think was protection, what are they going to do?" Breglio said.
Flaco first catapulted into the headlines in February, when vandals opened his enclosure in the Central Park Zoo.
Initially, the goal was to capture him and bring him back. He has been in captivity since 2012 and now out and about, many worry he will get hit by a car or eat a rat, laced with poison.
However, Flaco was not having it - he has been spotted back in the park, even on the Lower East Side - and seems to be thriving, which was the case on Tuesday when he dropped in on Knighton and Breglio.
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Eventually, the couple did find out just how special the owl is, took their eyes off him for a split second - and then he was gone.
"It brings people together, and who does it, but an animal - an owl - as opposed to a politician or other people," Breglio adds.
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