These owls got some new digs.
A group of barn owls who’s nest in Manhattan was recently torn apart by a construction crew — enraging locals and sparking a state probe — have been given a new home.
The state Department of Environmental Conservation on Saturday said they erected a new nesting area for the clan after the careless demolition of their former digs, which were in a water tower on top of a building on West 75th Street and Central Park West.
“To protect any barn owls at the site, an alternative roost location (i.e. owl box) was installed under the direction and oversight of DEC,” the agency said in a statement to The Post Saturday that included a pic of the new wooden, birdhouse-like nesting area.
The department “is committed to protecting native wildlife and ensuring their safety and well-being” and “continues to monitor the site of an active barn owl roost near a water tower on West 75th Street, Manhattan,” the statement added.
Construction crews first wrecked the owls’ nest while dismantling a water tower on the Upper West Side building earlier this week, and DEC police ordered demolition to stop so the agency could investigate potential violations.
But just hours after being slapped with the stop-work order Friday, the construction crews restarted their work and continued to wreck the nest.
It is illegal to destroy an active barn owl nest as the species is protected by state law.
The owls — who have been likened to neighborhood “celebrities” since moving into the rooftop earlier this month — survived the initial trauma and had since returned to the site.
However, experts fear the second attack could have dire consequences.
“The work that happened today definitely disturbed them even more,” said Jessica Wilson, executive director of the NYC Bird Alliance said Friday.
Barn owl nests in the Big Apple are incredibly rare — with the Upper West Side nest being the first ever recorded in Manhattan outside of Central Park.
The nocturnal birds commonly nest in human-made structures, usually beginning in April and May, when the young fledglings prepare to disperse and establish their own home ranges.
By August or November, most young barn owls will have left their nests and cemented their own homes.
Once the fledglings naturally separate from their parents, they will either find a new home within the borough or flock to nearby areas and join other barn owl populations.
The Upper West Side property owner was served a cease-and-desist order Friday and out of caution for the vulnerable state of the owls, the New York Road Runners — the organizers behind Sunday’s marathon — canceled a drone show over Central Park.
