Roof removed from Manhattan water tower that housed first barn owl nest

State regulators order demolition halted while investigating possible violations

The roof of a water tower on Manhattan’s Upper West Side — home to a celebrated family of barn owls believed to be the first documented nest of the species in the borough’s modern history — was removed on Thursday, drawing criticism from New Yorkers who had spent weeks gathering on the street to glimpse the elusive birds. The owl family’s discovery weeks earlier had attracted crowds and nature photographers to the block where the tower sits atop a building’s rooftop.

Jessica Wilson, executive director of the NYC Bird Alliance, a nonprofit dedicated to protecting wild birds, said she saw a barn owl chick on the roof of a nearby building on Thursday, after the water tower’s top was removed. Wilson said chicks should not be outside in broad daylight because barn owls are nocturnal. The chick had been taken out of the nest, she said, and her group did not see any more chicks.

The NYC Bird Alliance received reports Thursday morning from residents and birdwatchers about work being performed at the top of the tower, Wilson said. When Wilson arrived at the building, no workers were present. Agents from the state Department of Environmental Conservation also arrived, and everyone was able to access the building’s rooftop with the permission of the building’s superintendent, she said. Wilson saw that the top of the water tower where the owls had been nesting was gone.

The state Department of Environmental Conservation said in a statement that its agents investigated the area and found that the roof of the building’s water tower had been removed, leaving the barn owl nest exposed. The agents told the building’s owner to stop demolition of the water tower until further notice while the department investigates possible violations, the agency said.

It remains unclear who owns the building or who ordered the removal of the tower’s roof. The superintendent declined to comment when contacted by phone. Thomas Obersteiner, an Upper West Side resident, said he saw a man with an extension cord coming down from the water tower on Thursday, at approximately midday.

State Sen. Erik Bottcher said in a social media post that he was outraged by reports that construction work on the Upper West Side water tower destroyed part of the structure that served as the home of Manhattan’s first barn owl nest, potentially endangering a pair of owls and their several chicks. Bottcher added that active nests of migratory birds are protected by state and federal laws, and said the city’s urban wildlife deserves protection and that there must be accountability when those protections are violated.

David Barrett, a birdwatcher based in Manhattan who runs the popular Manhattan Bird Alert social media account, said the nest was well known — incredibly well known — and that much had been written about it. He said the removal never should have happened. Barrett said he observed the water tower on Thursday and saw that the roof had been taken off.

The birds had captivated New Yorkers in the past. Residents have embraced the American woodcocks that stop each year in Bryant Park in midtown Manhattan while migrating north in early spring. After Flaco, a Eurasian eagle-owl, died in 2024, dozens of grieving followers gathered to say farewell to the creature that flew around Manhattan and became a joy to many after someone released him from his zoo enclosure the year before. Pale Male, a red-tailed hawk, nested above Fifth Avenue for three decades before dying in 2023.

Barn owl sightings in New York City’s parks are very rare, according to the city Department of Parks and Recreation. New York sits at the northern edge of the barn owl’s range, and the species’ population has declined at an alarming rate over time, according to the state Department of Environmental Conservation.

Wilson said barn owl chicks depend on their parents to hunt for them because the chicks do not yet know how to hunt, and the parents bring food to the nest. Without the nest, she said, her organization worries that the barn owl chicks may not survive.