A Snowy Owl spent the day in Central Park’s North Meadow today. It roosted on the ground between 3rd Base and the Home Plate of the number four field. Luckily for the owl these fields have been fenced off for the winter, and with the help of the Urban Park Rangers, everyone respected the owl and stayed far away. The only exception was someone who choose to illegally fly a drone above the owl.

The owl also had to contend with a Cooper’s Hawk, Red-tailed Hawks and American Crows, who all would have been happy to see the owl move on.

As has become his habit, David Barrett choose to exploit the owl and promote it over social media with his twitter based Manhattan Bird Alert, as well as with his press contacts. While this specific owl was safe today, Mr. Barrett’s continued promotion of owl locations without also promoting owl watching ethics frustrated many of the city’s bird watchers.

At dusk, the owl flew around two of the ball fields, using the backstops as perches, as well the infields before flying off to the southeast.