David Barrett earned his undergraduate degree in mathematics from Harvard, and did graduate work in mathematics and computer science at MIT and in finance at the University of Chicago. After a long career as a hedge fund manager he is an investor. 

His achievements as a birder include multiple first-place finishes on eBird’s annual Top Birders list for Manhattan, fourteen years of over 205 bird species there, twice breaking the Manhattan big-year record, and a lifetime total of over 310 Manhattan birds. 2020 was his last year birding competitively; since then his focus has been on nature photography and managing @BirdCentralPark.

He is best known for his X account @BirdCentralPark (Manhattan Bird Alert), which features his own nature photography and which has introduced the public to such celebrity birds as Central Park’s Mandarin Duck, Snowy Owl, Barred Owl, Flaco the Eurasian Eagle-Owl, Astoria the Wild Turkey, and the Upper West Side Barn Owl family, all of which went on to receive worldwide media attention after appearing on his site.