NEW YORK — A family of barn owls has nested on a water tower atop a building on the Upper West Side, a short walk from Central Park, in what may be the first nest of its kind in Manhattan in modern history.
A neighbor heard the birds and photographed one, confirming that the loud creature was a barn owl. Birders have since gathered on the sidewalk below with binoculars and a folding chair that a witness described as “not anybody’s, but everybody’s.”
The size of the family has been difficult to pin down. One count found a number of young barn owls and two adults. Another put the total higher. The margin of error on a count of owls inside a water tower is approximately 3 owls, and the building has not budgeted for it.
Hector Lund, 49, superintendent of the building, said the owls had taken over the roof lease without signing anything. He said he found the family’s keys to the roof in a drawer of pellets, which the owls had left there as a deposit. “The pellets are about the right size for a deposit,” Lund said. “I checked.”
The building’s board has not yet voted on the owls’ application, which was submitted by a juvenile and has been received without comment. Lund said the board would have to meet in person, and the owls would have to be notified, and neither was likely before the next inspection.
Dr. Marjorie Teller, director of the Center for Measured Outcomes, said the nest was “consistent with a family that has already decided.” She said further study was needed to determine whether the owls intended to stay, and that the center had applied for funding to conduct it.
“They pay no rent,” Lund said. “They have never once asked me about the heat. I respect that.”
Lund said the owls were expected to remain in the tower until the mice in the building were exhausted, which he estimated would take until the building’s next inspection. The inspection is scheduled for next week. The owls have not been notified.