Rare Manhattan Nest Has a Family of Barn Owls Drawing Nightly Crowds in New York

Owls take up Manhattan residence

The barn owls have made a water tower on Manhattan’s Upper West Side their home, drawing people to nearby streets night after night. Their presence has turned the family into a local attraction.

Andrew Farnsworth, a migration ecologist at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, called the discovery shocking. He said there had been no known nest in Manhattan in recorded history, based on collective birding knowledge.

Reports of adults and fledglings

Farnsworth has seen an adult owl bring rodents back to the water tower. Two adult owls are believed to be there, and photographers have said they saw six fledglings, Barrett added. Barrett said a single barn owl would be unusual, but a family breeding in Manhattan for the first time in recorded history made the sighting especially notable.

How residents noticed the birds

Before the owls were identified, Williams and her husband had heard repeated screeching outside from early September. They thought it might be a bird, but were unsure after a phone app identified the sound as a barn owl.

A rare sight draws neighbors

The New York City Department of Parks & Recreation says barn owl sightings in the city’s parks are very rare. Jessica Wilson, executive director of NYC Bird Alliance, said the birds’ nocturnal and secretive nature makes them especially compelling to New Yorkers.

Residents have also embraced other visiting and nesting birds, including American woodcocks that stop at Bryant Park during their northward migration in early spring. Pale Male, a red-tailed hawk that nested above Fifth Avenue for three decades, died in 2023.

Photographers gather to watch

Obersteiner said his roof deck is probably the best place in town to view the owls. Since news spread, he has allowed nature photographers onto the perch almost every night. Williams and her husband had not been bird watchers before the owls arrived, but the experience has been delightful for them.