"These weren't just barn owls. This was a family."

The fate of a family of barn owls who had captured the city's attention after nesting on the Upper West Side is now in question after construction workers damaged the water tower Thursday afternoon where the owls were raising their fledglings.

New York State Senator Erik Bottcher issued a statement Thursday night calling for all work to stop until the owls have safely left the site. He joined WNYC's Morning Edition host Michael Hill to talk about it.