The owl did not appear to be injured, and will likely be transferred to the temporary care of Conway-based raptor expert Tom Ricardi.
Updates a story published at 2:44 p.m. Thursday.
HOLYOKE -- A Barred Owl that spent the day roosting atop a glass awning above the entrance to the Holyoke Health Center on Maple Street was taken into protective custody shortly after 7:30 p.m. Thursday.
Police closed the street for a short time as a ladder truck from the city's fire department assisted in the rescue and a large crowd of spectators gathered.
Eric M. Velez, an animal control officer with Springfield's T.J. O'Connor Animal Control and Adoption Center, said animal control officers had told concerned onlookers all day that the owl would likely fly away once darkness fell. But, over an hour after sunset, Velez said he decided to take the owl into custody as a precautionary measure.
"If he's still there at one, two o'clock in the morning, who knows what could have happened to him," Velez said, adding that he'd heard reports of someone throwing rocks at the owl earlier in the day.
The owl did not seem to be injured. "It appears to be in good shape," Velez said. On Friday, Velez said, he planned to contact the Massachusetts Environmental Police and Conway-based raptor rehabilitator Tom Ricardi and his son, Tom Ricardi Jr.
"We're going to hold onto him for the night. We'll give him fresh water and a nice place to rest," Velez said. After that, the Ricardis will likely care for the owl until they determine it is ready to return to the wild.
The owl was the second bird of prey Velez has dealt with in the past two days. Earlier in the week, he rescued a Red-tailed Hawk found injured in Springfield.
After taking its perch at the health center early Thursday morning, the owl delighted scores of onlookers over the course of the day.
"No one can believe it," Ginger Taillefer of Agawam, an office manager at City Clinic, said around noon Thursday.
Jody Spitz of Amherst -- a family literacy coordinator at the nearby Picknelly Adult and Family Education Center on Maple Street who also spent her lunch hour viewing the bird -- marveled at the owl's draw.
"Just look at this crowd of people who are so excited to see an owl downtown," she said.