_{^{Barn Owl, known to birders as "Cinnamon," in Central Park © David Lei}}

By Don Riepe, NYC Bird Alliance Advisory Council Member and Former Board Member | November 9, 2026

Many people ask me, “What’s your favorite bird?”

My reply is that I love all species, including the Common House Sparrow and European starling. However, if pressed to name a specific species, it’s the American Barn Owl (Tyto furcata), one of the most interesting and beautiful raptors found in Jamaica Bay and select areas of other boroughs in New York City.

Most people never see a Barn Owl because it is strictly nocturnal and rarely ventures out in daytime. Flying silently in almost total darkness, the Barn Owl feeds exclusively on rats, mice, and other small prey. This owl is classified as a Species of Greatest Conservation Need by the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation. 

In recent decades the Barn Owl population has declined due to loss of nesting sites (such as old buildings), loss of open field habitat, human disturbance, and increased use of rat poisons. In the past I’ve found Barn Owls nesting in an old water tower in Richmond Hill, Queens, a dilapidated WW2 military building in Breezy Point, Queens, and an abandoned building on Ellis Island in New York Harbor. 

Recently, a pair of Barn Owls raised a large family of five young in a water tower on top of a building near Central Park – a first modern record for Manhattan! Read more about that here.

Since 1980, with help from carpenter Dennis Guiney and many volunteers, we have erected, replaced, and repaired over a dozen nest boxes and placed them in quiet and more remote areas of Jamaica Bay. During the past 35 years, Department of Environmental Protection biologist Chris Nadareski and I have monitored and banded over 300 young owlets as well as a few adults. 

I believe that the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge is perhaps home to the densest concentration of Barn Owls in NY State. Why? Because we have been managing them for many years by providing the cavity nest structures (large nest boxes) needed for raising young owlets. If you build it and place it in a suitable habitat away from human disturbance, they will come. 

Maybe!