{"id":11157,"date":"2013-11-25T05:35:47","date_gmt":"2013-11-25T12:35:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=11157"},"modified":"2025-05-08T12:17:17","modified_gmt":"2025-05-08T17:17:17","slug":"missing-montanas-great-horned-owls","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/11\/25\/missing-montanas-great-horned-owls\/","title":{"rendered":"Missing Montana’s Great Horned Owls"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"MatedMated pair of Great Horned Owls<\/span><\/p>\n

Great Horned Owls and old wood just seem to go together, the warm tones of the wood are a great compliment to the same tones in the plumage of Great Horned Owls. I also like the contrast of the hard lines and textures of the wood compared to the softness and patterns of the owl’s feathers.<\/p>\n

This mated pair of Great Horned Owls were photographed in Glacier County<\/span><\/a>, Montana, in fact all of the owls in this post were. The female on the right is slightly larger than the male on the left but I could easily tell the male from the female with this mated pair because he has a “blown eye<\/span><\/a>” that makes him distinctive and easy to ID.<\/p>\n

\"FledglingFledgling Great Horned Owl<\/span><\/p>\n

Great Horned Owl fledglings seem to have universal appeal. It might be because they rate so high on the cuteness scale! This fledgling Great Horned Owl was resting on the ladder to an old children’s fort.<\/p>\n

It was chilly that morning so it was probably warming up in the rising sun. On a scale of 1 to 10; with 10 being the best, this one gets an 11 from me.<\/p>\n

\"MaleAdult male Great Horned Owl<\/span><\/p>\n

This is the male Great Horned Owl on the outside of an old granary, if you look at his eyes you can see that the left pupil is larger than the right and isn’t uniformly round. For a closer look at his eye you can look at my post titled “Birds with blown eyes<\/a>“. It was warm the morning I photographed this male Great Horned Owl and not long after I took this image he flew into the granary to escape the bright sun.<\/p>\n

\"OldOld Granary and a Great Horned Owl in Glacier County<\/span><\/p>\n

Whenever I am out around old buildings I always look for owls in the doors or windows and I always hope to see a Great Horned or Barn Owl there. The male is shown here basking in the golden light of dawn.<\/p>\n

Yes, I am missing the Great Horned Owls I know and love\u00a0in Montana.<\/p>\n

Life is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my Great Horned Owl photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Great Horned Owls and old wood just seem to go together, the warm tones of the wood are a great compliment to the same tones in the plumage of Great Horned Owls. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":143532,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,860,209,12],"tags":[4051,4203,1772,11120,4141,4049,4067,4071,2240,2138,3967,4455,294,4193],"class_list":["post-11157","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-glacier-county","category-great-horned-owls","category-montana","tag-adults","tag-bubo-virginianus","tag-farm","tag-farmland","tag-fledgling","tag-granary","tag-immature","tag-juvenile","tag-mated-pair","tag-mates","tag-owl","tag-owlet","tag-owls","tag-young"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/great-horned-owls-mates-mia-mcpherson-1970.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-2TX","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":7658,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/02\/28\/a-pair-of-great-horned-owls-in-montana\/","url_meta":{"origin":11157,"position":0},"title":"Pair of Great Horned Owls in Montana","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"February 28, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"This mated pair of Great Horned Owls were resting in the opening of an old granary in Glacier County, Montana when I photographed them in June of 2009.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Great Horned Owls in a granary in northern Montana, Glacier County","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/great-horned-owl-pair-mia-mcpherson-1912.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/great-horned-owl-pair-mia-mcpherson-1912.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/great-horned-owl-pair-mia-mcpherson-1912.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/great-horned-owl-pair-mia-mcpherson-1912.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":8898,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/07\/14\/weathered-wood-and-a-great-horned-owl\/","url_meta":{"origin":11157,"position":1},"title":"Weathered Wood and a Great Horned Owl","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"July 14, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Great Horned Owls and old wood seem to go together like salt and pepper, stars and stripes or peanut butter and jelly, they are a great combination!","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Female adult Great Horned Owl in a Montana granary window. Glacier County, Montana","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/great-horned-owl-female-granary-mia-mcpherson-2738.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/great-horned-owl-female-granary-mia-mcpherson-2738.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/great-horned-owl-female-granary-mia-mcpherson-2738.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/great-horned-owl-female-granary-mia-mcpherson-2738.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":13665,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2014\/01\/19\/a-pair-of-great-horned-owls-with-their-eyes-on-the-montana-sky\/","url_meta":{"origin":11157,"position":2},"title":"Pair of Great Horned Owls with their eyes on the Montana Sky","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"January 19, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"As I photographed them I saw both Great Horned Owls turn their alert eyes to the sky and although I remember looking up into the sky myself I recall I didn't see anything but the much keener eyes of the owls probably did.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Pair of Great Horned Owls with their eyes on the Montana sky, Glacier County\u00a0","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/great-horned-owls-mia-mcpherson-montana-1949.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/great-horned-owls-mia-mcpherson-montana-1949.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/great-horned-owls-mia-mcpherson-montana-1949.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":15443,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2014\/07\/24\/posts-from-the-past-owls\/","url_meta":{"origin":11157,"position":3},"title":"Posts from the Past – Owls","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"July 24, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Today I am focusing on older posts that have owls in them starting with Great Horned Owls.","rel":"","context":"In "American Barn Owls"","block_context":{"text":"American Barn Owls","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/owls\/barn-owls\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Pair of Great Horned Owls with their eyes on the Montana sky, Glacier 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old granary in Glacier County, Montana.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Great Horned Owl juvenile in granary window in Glacier County, Montana","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/great-horned-owl-juvie-granary-mia-mcpherson-6737.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/great-horned-owl-juvie-granary-mia-mcpherson-6737.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/great-horned-owl-juvie-granary-mia-mcpherson-6737.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/great-horned-owl-juvie-granary-mia-mcpherson-6737.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":7370,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/02\/02\/great-horned-owl-fledgling-in-a-montana-granary-window\/","url_meta":{"origin":11157,"position":5},"title":"Great Horned Owl fledgling in a Montana granary window","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"February 2, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Currently throughout the breeding range of Great Horned Owls the owls have either begun to nest or have nested already. Great Horned Owls have a large range and are found in the U.S., Canada and Central America.","rel":"","context":"In "Glacier County"","block_context":{"text":"Glacier County","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/montana\/glacier-county\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Great Horned Owl fledgling in Glacier County, Montana","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/great-horned-owl-fledgling-montana-mia-mcpherson-6831.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/great-horned-owl-fledgling-montana-mia-mcpherson-6831.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/great-horned-owl-fledgling-montana-mia-mcpherson-6831.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/great-horned-owl-fledgling-montana-mia-mcpherson-6831.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11157","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11157"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11157\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/143532"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11157"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11157"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11157"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}