A family of barn owls has made a home in a rooftop water tower on Manhattan's Upper West Side, and birders believe it is the first known barn owl nest on the island in modern history. Two adults are raising a brood of young owls in a hole in the tower near Central Park West, CBS News New York reported.

The count varies by observer. Birder David Barrett, who runs the Manhattan Bird Alert account, has photographed five young owls on the tower roof, while other birders say they have seen six, according to The New York Times. The young have begun short test flights around the tower at night while their parents hunt.

The sighting is drawing crowds after dark, but it also comes with a warning. The owls hunt rats and mice in a city that relies heavily on rat poison, and wildlife advocates say every poisoned rodent is a risk to the birds now feeding a growing family.

A Screech on the Patio

The discovery started with a sound — a loud, raspy screech. Upper West Side resident Elisabeth Williams and her husband, Sam, began hearing loud screeching from their apartment patio in September and kept hearing it night after night, according to the Times and Smithsonian Magazine.

The couple used the Merlin bird identification app to narrow down the call. On Oct. 3, Sam Williams saw a dark shape fly past the patio, and a photo taken by Elisabeth confirmed a barn owl. She named it Scotty.

"They fly really close, almost like they're dive-bombing us," Sam Williams told the Times.

Word spread through the city's birding network. Barrett said neighbors first noticed the birds by their calls. "Residents of the surrounding block began hearing loud noises at night, loud raspy screeching noises," he told CBS News New York. The owls perch on a water tower atop a nine-story apartment building on West 75th Street and sometimes scan nearby alleys and Central Park from a neighboring building, the Times reported.

A Rare Bird for New York

Barn owls are uncommon anywhere in New York State, which sits near the northern edge of the species' range. The state Department of Environmental Conservation lists the barn owl as a Species of Greatest Conservation Need, and its assessment found a 78 percent decline in occupied breeding survey blocks statewide since the 1980s.

Most of the state's remaining breeding birds are on Long Island and Staten Island, the DEC said, and barn owls live year-round in Jamaica Bay and on Staten Island, according to the Times. They have occasionally been seen hunting in Central Park at night, but no nest in Manhattan had been documented before.

"The presence of a nest right in the middle of the country's biggest city is really exciting," said Jessica Wilson, executive director of NYC Bird Alliance.

The water tower makes sense from an owl's point of view. Barn owls are cavity nesters that use barns, church steeples, tree hollows, and nest boxes, according to the DEC, and their numbers are often limited by a shortage of suitable cavities close to good hunting. A sheltered hole high above a neighborhood with rats and mice offers both.

Rats on the Menu, and Poison Too

Barn owls feed mainly on small mammals. In rural areas, that often means voles, while in Manhattan the adults are hunting mice and rats in alleys and the park and carrying them back to the young, the Times reported.

That diet is the main concern for advocates — not the city's crowds. "Rats in New York City are often poisoned by rodenticide, meant to kill the rats," Wilson told CBS News New York, adding that owls eating several rats a day are likely to be exposed. Anticoagulant poisons can build up in predators that eat many poisoned rodents.

The city has seen this risk before. Flaco, the Eurasian eagle-owl that escaped from the Central Park Zoo, died in 2024 after hitting a building, and a post-mortem found pigeon herpesvirus and four types of rat poison in his body, Smithsonian reported. The city later passed legislation known as Flaco's Law, which includes a pilot program testing rat contraception instead of poison.

Advocates have pushed the city toward rodent control that relies less on poison, which is the goal of the Flaco's Law contraception pilot. New Yorkers who want to help can ask landlords and building managers about poison-free options such as sealing entry points, securing trash and using traps.

Watching Without Disturbing

The owls are visible from public sidewalks at night, and birders have been gathering to watch. "It's a truly special experience," Barrett told CBS News New York, noting that people can see them from a public space.

Viewing still takes patience. Barrett warned in the Times that observers need strong binoculars to see more than a tiny dark shape. Birders recommend keeping noise down, not using bright flashlights or camera flashes, and never trying to reach rooftops or the tower itself.

Barn owls and their nests are protected under the federal Migratory Bird Treaty Act, so disturbing the birds or the nest site is illegal. Anyone who finds an injured owl in the city should contact a licensed wildlife rehabilitator rather than handle it.

The young owls are likely to disperse in the coming weeks as they learn to hunt, and it is not yet known whether the adults will stay or return to the tower next breeding season. Local birders will keep monitoring the site, and Nature World News will report on what happens to the family.

What Readers Want to Know

Where are the barn owls nesting?

In a hole in a rooftop water tower on a building on West 75th Street near Central Park West, on Manhattan's Upper West Side.

How many owls are there?

Two adults and about five or six young owls, depending on the observer.

Is this really the first barn owl nest in Manhattan?

NYC Bird Alliance and local birders say it is the first known barn owl nest in Manhattan in modern history. Barn owls do nest elsewhere in the city, including Staten Island and Jamaica Bay.

What do the owls eat?

Mostly mice and rats, which the adults hunt in nearby alleys and Central Park.

Why are experts worried about rat poison?

Owls that eat poisoned rats can be poisoned themselves, and the birds may eat several rats a day.

Can I go see them?

They can be seen from public sidewalks at night with strong binoculars. Keep noise and lights to a minimum and never try to approach the nest.