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BOROUGHWIDE — Brooklyn’s birders are split over an unwritten “owl code” — a pact that discourages sharing owl locations to protect the birds from stress and crowds, reports Defector. 

Brooklyn’s community enforces it most strictly, with moderators on online birding platform eBird hiding sensitive sightings, while Manhattan birders freely post coordinates to popular social media accounts.

Advocates say secrecy shields the nocturnal raptors from overexposure and dangerous “playback” tactics, or blasting recorded calls to lure owls for photos. Critics argue that the secrecy is exclusionary and that public sightings build community.

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