NEW YORK \u2013 Manhattan’s Upper West Side has been reveling in the company of its latest celebrities: A family of barn owls nested in a water tower atop a building near Central Park.<\/p>\n
This is the first documented instance of barn owls nesting in Manhattan in modern history, according to one expert, and the owls have attracted nightly crowds of people in the street eager to get a glimpse of the elusive birds.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was, like, totally shocking,\u201d Andrew Farnsworth, a migration ecologist at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, said of the barn owls. \u201cTo the best of our knowledge, like the collective birding knowledge, there hasn\u2019t been a nest in, you know, in Manhattan, at least in recorded history.\u201d<\/p>\n
Word of the barn owl family didn’t get around until last week, when Elisabeth Williams, an Upper West Side resident, notified a local news outlet on Oct. 6 that she and her husband saw multiple owls at the water tower atop a building on West 75th Street close to Central Park West.<\/p>\n
The couple had previously seen a single owl on an apartment windowsill a few days earlier and were shocked even then, Williams recalled.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn a place like Manhattan, you normally really have to go out of your way to encounter nature,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd here it was, just sort of right outside our window.\u201d<\/p>\n
Barn owl sightings are rare in New York City<\/p>\n
It’s not the first time that birds have captivated New Yorkers. Residents have fallen in love with American woodcocks<\/a>, who are known to stop in Midtown Manhattan\u2019s Bryant Park every year as they migrate north in early spring. And after Flaco the Eurasian eagle-owl died in 2024<\/a>, dozens of mournful fans gathered to say goodbye to the beloved creature who flew around Manhattan and became a joy to many after someone let him out of his zoo enclosure<\/a> the previous year.<\/p>\n But barn owl sightings in New York City parks are very rare, according to the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation. New York is at the northern fringe of the barn owl’s range and the barn owl population has declined \u201cat an alarming rate\u201d over time, according to the state Department of Environmental Conservation.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s lots of excitement among New Yorkers, both birders and non-birders alike, about these owls because owls really capture the attention,\u201d said Jessica Wilson, executive director of NYC Bird Alliance. \u201cThey\u2019re magical, they\u2019re nocturnal, they are secretive, they\u2019re not commonly seen, especially on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. And to have this chance to see these birds is really thrilling.\u201d<\/p>\n Photographers and casual onlookers have gathered on the street on a nightly basis to spot the owls.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve only seen one barn owl ever, and that was in California,\u201d said Val Coleman, a retired New York City resident who was on the Upper West Side earlier this week trying to spot the owls. \u201cAt dusk, we hope they will come out to hunt. We hope they don\u2019t eat poisoned rats with rodenticide in \u2019em.\u201d<\/p>\n David Barrett, a Manhattan-based birder who runs the popular social media account, Manhattan Bird Alert, said he\u2019s observed at least one adult barn owl and five fledglings at the water tower. He\u2019s also seen an adult owl carrying rodents back to the water tower. There are believed to be two adult owls, and some photographers have claimed to have seen six fledglings, Barrett added.<\/p>\n \u201cHaving one barn owl is a rarity, but it\u2019s not national news. Having a family, for the first time ever, breeding in Manhattan in recorded history, that\u2019s special news,\u201d Barrett said.<\/p>\n Screeching was heard by residents<\/p>\n Before the recent barn owl sightings, Williams and her husband heard periodic screeching noises outside going back to early September. They initially assumed it was a bird of some kind but were skeptical when a phone app indicated the noise was from a barn owl.<\/p>\n Thomas Obersteiner said that he first heard bizarre screeching and wailing noises from outside one evening in mid-September. It sounded like someone was \u201cbeing murdered outside,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cThat lasted for two or three weeks, every night, sometimes more, sometimes less, coming from different directions,\u201d Obersteiner added. \u201cBut I had no idea what that was.\u201d<\/p>\n On multiple occasions, Obersteiner or his wife ran into their children’s bedroom after mistaking the owls’ screech for a child in pain, he said. It wasn’t until he saw a news report that he realized that owls were making the sounds.<\/p>\n Farnsworth said the screech is typical of barn owls, who use it to communicate with one another. The screech is like a \u201chorror movie kind of experience,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Obersteiner, who said his roof deck is the \u201cprobably the best location in town right now\u201d to watch the owls, has been letting nature photographers access that perch to observe the owls \u201calmost every night\u201d since news of the barn owls spread. On one night last week, 20 people had gathered.<\/p>\n \u201cWe can\u2019t say no because it\u2019s so much fun and these people are so serious,\u201d Obersteiner added. \u201cIt’s beautiful.\u201d<\/p>\n Williams and her husband were not bird watchers before the barn owl family moved in to the water tower. But that may change soon after their \u201cdelightful\u201d experience.<\/p>\n \u201cI think we\u2019re about to become birders,\u201d Williams said.<\/p>\n __<\/p>\n Kelety reported from Phoenix.<\/p>\n Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. 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