A Family of Barn Owls Moved Into a Manhattan Water Tower, and Birders Are Lining Up at Night

NEW YORK, Oct. 25, 2026 — The hottest address on the Upper West Side this fall is a water tower on West 75th Street, and the tenants only come out at night.

A family of barn owls has nested in the tower atop a building near Central Park, and it is the first documented case of barn owls nesting in Manhattan in modern history, according to one expert who spoke with the Associated Press. The birds have drawn crowds to the street every night hoping for a look.

The neighborhood news site West Side Rag first reported a sighting in a building courtyard on the block between Columbus Avenue and Central Park West on Oct. 4. Within days, birders were photographing as many as five owls there, two parents and three young, and some were out past 1:30 in the morning to do it.

Seeing them takes commitment. The owls aren't visible to the naked eye from the street, and binoculars won't cut it, so the sidewalk crowd tends to come armed with long camera lenses.

Andrew Eastwick told the Rag that he and friends had been spotting adult barn owls in Central Park for more than a year and suspected a nest was hidden somewhere nearby. Longtime birder Bruce Yolton set up a live camera feed of the tower so passersby could get a look.

"Barn owls aren't doing very well, so to have one just appear magically in Manhattan and to be having kids is just super," Yolton said.

He also asked visitors to mind their manners. At least one person showed up and shone a flashlight at the owls, which birders frown on.