SEE IT: Famed Snowy Owl Makes Rare Daylight Visit To Harlem

HARLEM, NY — Seventeen-year-old Sebastien had just gotten out of the shower around 10 a.m. Tuesday and was blasting disco music when he glanced out his bedroom window at his Harlem apartment.

"I looked out the window and there was a big owl," said Sebastien, 17, who asked that his last name not be used.

Almost instantly, he knew what it was: the snowy owl that has dazzled New Yorkers and attracted throngs of onlookers since it appeared in Central Park in late January — the first of its species to migrate to Manhattan for the winter since 1890.

Sebastien, who lives with his family near 120th Street between Lenox Avenue and Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. Boulevard, said his father has taken up birdwatching in recent months and told him about the snowy owl's tenure in Central Park, where it has appeared almost nightly near the reservoir and north ballfields.

"He showed me a couple of pictures. I thought, 'That's a very pretty bird,'" Sebastien said.

For a moment, he wasn't sure if this was the same bird: the owl he saw perched on a rooftop a few yards from his window had streaks of gray feathers, while the "snowy" name seems to imply white plumage. Within a few minutes, though, his father posted a video to Twitter, and the sighting was confirmed and amplified by David Barrett, who runs the popular Manhattan Bird Alert page.

The SNOWY OWL likely has rested at a number of locations near Central Park still unknown to us. Today we know one of those locations, on a rooftop near Lenox Avenue and West 121st Street, NOT visible to the public from the street.
— Manhattan Bird Alert (@BirdCentralPark) March 2, 2021

Tuesday morning's sighting was the snowy owl's first documented daytime appearance since Jan. 27, according to Barrett. (Unlike Central Park, he cautioned, the Harlem spot is not open to the public.)

"Though she hunts in the park every night, she clearly has chosen to spend days elsewhere," he tweeted. "These owls are known to rest on roofs."

After watching the owl for about a minute, Sebastien left the window briefly. When he returned, the bird had vanished.

Still, his video documenting the brief sighting had racked up more than 12,000 views by Wednesday afternoon.

"It’s nice that so many people are interested about wildlife," he said.

Related coverage: 'Mega-Rare' Snowy Owl Appears In Central Park, Wowing New Yorkers