It was fowl play!

The sparrow nest that vanished from inside a Central Park traffic light was apparently removed by a heartless ghoul, but the plucky birds were back yesterday rebuilding their lofty home twig by twig.

The crime scene is a pole-mounted signal eight feet above the corner of 72nd Street and Fifth Avenue, where the sparrows spent months constructing a thick nest of feathers, grass and twigs in the yellow light.

The city’s Parks Department claimed no knowledge of the nest-napping. And the city’s Department of Transportation said it “did not remove a bird’s nest from that location.”

Undeterred, the homeless birds were hard at work yesterday, placing a new twig every 10 to 15 minutes.

Removing a nest is considered a misdemeanor, punishable by a fine of more than $1,000 or 90 days behind bars.