Great Horned Owl

Bubo virginianus

Description:

This is a heavily built, barrel-shaped species, and has a large head and broad wings. Adults have large ear tufts and yellow irises. The facial disc is reddish, brown, or gray in color and there is a variable sized white patch on the throat.

Habitat:

Found throughout the Americas, they will take residence in various type of habitats including mixed forests, swamps, deciduous forests, tropical rainforests and prairies.

Notes:

Found in Buffalo Lake Wildlife Refuge

Species ID Suggestions

16 Comments

Ajwerko 11 years ago

Nice series! Thanks for sharing.

Caleb Steindel 11 years ago

way to go, ashley!

KarenL 11 years ago

Great series!

Cody.conway 11 years ago

This series definitely beats your last shots of this owl! Glad to see he was still around for your enjoyment and sharing!

AshleyT 11 years ago

Thanks Emily, Seema, Christy, Stian, Alice, and August!
And August, I have a Canon Rebel T3i with a 400 mm F5.6 lens. I know there is better stuff out there for birds, but I love what I have and am always trying to get better pictures of species and I'm becoming more and more happy with the lens the more I use it, haven't had it quite a month yet.

augustgray 11 years ago

Ashley, what are you shooting with? Fantastic images.

alicelongmartin 11 years ago

Lovely Series!

AshleyT 11 years ago

Well I know there are two great horned owls nesting in this area, so I went right as the refuge opened at 8 am and went straight to the area they are in and just walked around for a bit until I flushed him, then just watched him land and slowly got closer to him while taking pictures. Once he decided I was too close and flew off again, I just left.
I've heard if you look at how much of the iris of an owl shows, it will tell you how adapted to daylight they are. Great horns have lots of yellow, while barn owls are all black. So great horns you will see in daylight more often than barn owls.