New York City Owls
An American Barn Owl sits perched on a water tower on the Upper West Side neighborhood, Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2026, in New York.
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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. An expert says this is the first documented instance of barn owls nesting in Manhattan in modern history. The owls have attracted nightly crowds of people in the street eager to get a glimpse of the elusive birds, including a nature photographers. Word of the owl family spread last week when an Upper West Side resident notified a local news outlet that she and her husband saw multiple owls at the water tower, located on West 75th Street close to Central Park West.