{"id":373536,"date":"2026-10-15T02:46:23","date_gmt":"2026-10-15T02:46:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/373536\/"},"modified":"2026-10-15T02:46:23","modified_gmt":"2026-10-15T02:46:23","slug":"barn-owl-new-york-city-near-central-park","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/373536\/","title":{"rendered":"Barn Owl New York City Near Central Park"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"subheadline\">The owls have been spotted near Central Park, marking what one expert says is the first recorded barn owl nest in Manhattan history.<\/p>\n<p class=\"byline\">\n\t\t\t\t\tBy<br \/>\n\t\t\t\tBrian Lada, AccuWeather meteorologist\t\t<\/p>\n<p>Published Oct 14, 2026 12:38 PM EDT\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t|<\/p>\n<p>Updated Oct 14, 2026 12:38 PM EDT\n\t\t<\/p>\n<p class=\"feature-tag\">\n\t\tThis hawk was spotted braving the elements in Florida\u2019s Tampa Bay region on Oct. 9 as Hurricane Isaias approached landfall along the state\u2019s Gulf coast, bringing flooding rainfall.\n\t<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-block content-module\">\n\tA rare family of barn owls has turned part of Manhattan into its nighttime hunting ground, giving <a href=\"https:\/\/www.accuweather.com\/en\/us\/new-york\/10021\/weather-forecast\/349727?type=locality&amp;city=new%20york\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">New York City<\/a> birders a sight many have waited years to see.\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-block content-module\">\n\tThe barn owls were first spotted on Oct. 6 and have gained the attention of the local birding community.\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-block content-module\">\n\t&#8220;Barn owls are extremely rare in the urban areas of New York City,&#8221; David Barrett told AccuWeather. &#8220;I birded Central Park for eight years, nearly every day, before I ever saw a barn owl.&#8221;\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"feature-tag\">\n\tA barn owl spotted in New York City. (X\/@BirdCenntralPark)\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-block content-module\">\n\tThe family, including five juveniles and two parents, is nesting atop a building off West 75th Street near Central Park West inside an abandoned wooden water tank.\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-block content-module\">\n\tThe location puts the owls close to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.accuweather.com\/en\/us\/central-park\/10028\/weather-forecast\/2627448?type=place&amp;placename=central%20park&amp;postalcode=10028\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Central Park<\/a>, where they can hunt for rodents after dark.\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-block content-module\">\n\t&#8220;To have them residing and breeding now on the Upper West Side is wonderful and unprecedented: the first time in recorded history that barn owls have nested in Manhattan,&#8221; Barrett said.\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"feature-tag\">\n\tA family of barn owls seen on an abandoned water tank in New York City. (X\/@BirdCentralPark)\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-block content-module\">\n\tPeople in the Big Apple hoping to catch a glimpse of the rare owl family should have plenty of time, though the birds are most active at night when they leave the nest to hunt.\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-block content-module\">\n\t&#8220;The parents, who mate for life, likely will stay where they are, as they have made this their home and have successfully breeded here,&#8221; Barrett explained. &#8220;As long as the water tank remains open, they probably will continue to use it.&#8221;\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"feature-tag\">\n\tTwo barn owls sitting on an old wooden water tank in New York City. (X\/@BirdCentralPark)\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-block content-module\">\n\tThe younger owls are also expected to remain nearby for now as they learn to hunt on their own, giving birders a rare chance to watch a new generation of barn owls grow up in the heart of Manhattan.\n<\/p>\n<p>\t\t<a class=\"typo\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.accuweather.com\/en\/contact\/?type=typo\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Report a Typo<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The owls have been spotted near Central Park, marking what one expert says is the first recorded barn&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":373537,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[75,84,83,9,24,63],"class_list":["post-373536","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-manhattan","tag-manhattan","tag-manhattan-headlines","tag-manhattan-news","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/373536","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=373536"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/373536\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/373537"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=373536"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=373536"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=373536"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}