Manhattan’s Rare Barn Owls: A Family Drawing Crowds on New York’s Upper West Side

Owls settle in Manhattan

The barn owls have made a water tower on Manhattan’s Upper West Side their home. Crowds now gather in the street at night hoping to catch sight of the elusive birds.

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 bringing rodents back to the tower. Two adults are believed to be present, while some photographers have said they saw six fledglings, Barrett added. Barrett said a single barn owl would be rare, but described a family breeding in Manhattan for the first time in recorded history as special news.

How residents noticed them

Williams and her husband had spotted one owl on an apartment windowsill a few days before the family drew wider attention. Starting in early September, they had also heard periodic screeching outside and initially doubted a phone app’s identification of a barn owl.

Obersteiner said the sounds continued nightly for two or three weeks, sometimes more and sometimes less, and seemed to come from different directions. He recognized them as owl calls only after seeing a news report.

A rare city wildlife sighting

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

City residents have also embraced American woodcocks, which stop in 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 has opened his roof deck to nature photographers since news of the owls spread, saying it is probably the best spot in town to see them. He has welcomed photographers there almost every night.