{"id":20973,"date":"2015-03-18T05:59:45","date_gmt":"2015-03-18T11:59:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=20973"},"modified":"2025-10-13T10:44:04","modified_gmt":"2025-10-13T15:44:04","slug":"grumpy-looking-burrowing-owl","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2015\/03\/18\/grumpy-looking-burrowing-owl\/","title":{"rendered":"Grumpy Looking Burrowing Owl"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazyload aligncenter wp-image-160112 size-full\" title=\"Grumpy looking Burrowing Owl adult, Antelope Island State Park, Utah\" src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/burrowing-owl-grumpy-mia-mcpherson-1062.jpg\" data-orig-src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/burrowing-owl-grumpy-mia-mcpherson-1062.jpg\" alt=\"Grumpy looking Burrowing Owl adult, Antelope Island State Park, Utah\" width=\"850\" height=\"607\" srcset=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%27%20width%3D%27850%27%20height%3D%27607%27%20viewBox%3D%270%200%20850%20607%27%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%27850%27%20height%3D%27607%27%20fill-opacity%3D%220%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/burrowing-owl-grumpy-mia-mcpherson-1062-200x143.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/burrowing-owl-grumpy-mia-mcpherson-1062-300x214.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/burrowing-owl-grumpy-mia-mcpherson-1062-400x286.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/burrowing-owl-grumpy-mia-mcpherson-1062-600x428.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/burrowing-owl-grumpy-mia-mcpherson-1062-768x548.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/burrowing-owl-grumpy-mia-mcpherson-1062.jpg 850w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-orig-sizes=\"(max-width: 850px) 100vw, 850px\" \/><span style=\"color: #808080;\">Grumpy looking Burrowing Owl &#8211; Nikon D810, f7.1, 1\/640, +0.3 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited or called in<br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<p>I photographed this adult Burrowing Owl yesterday morning on <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/stateparks.utah.gov\/parks\/antelope-island\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Antelope Island State Park<\/a><\/span> near its burrow and realized that more often than not adult Burrowing Owls look grumpy compared to the juveniles who can look funny, clownish, goofy, serious, and more.<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;m not saying that the Burrowing Owl I photographed yesterday <em>was<\/em> grumpy, just that it looked that way.<\/p>\n<p>It was nice to see two owls at this burrow yesterday and I hope that they are able to nest successfully this year and that people won&#8217;t get too close to them or their burrows so that they don&#8217;t abandon the nest which can be photographed from the road without even getting out of vehicles.<\/p>\n<p>Life <em>is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n<p>Mia<\/p>\n<p>Click <a href=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/burrowing-owl-images\/\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my Burrowing Owl photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I&#8217;m not saying that the Burrowing Owl I photographed yesterday was grumpy, just that it looked that way. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":160112,"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":[511,27,52,1022,26],"tags":[4004,55,4021,2663,4054,4214,11978,3747,4109,6394,6865,3967,294,4353,153,165,4516],"class_list":["post-20973","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-antelope-island-state-park","category-avian","category-burrowing-owls","category-davis-county-utah","category-utah","tag-adult","tag-athene-cunicularia","tag-bird-photography","tag-birds-of-prey","tag-burrow","tag-burrowing-owl","tag-desert-island","tag-grass","tag-grasses","tag-grumpy","tag-looking","tag-owl","tag-owls","tag-owls-of-utah","tag-raptors","tag-spring","tag-western-burrowing-owl"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/burrowing-owl-grumpy-mia-mcpherson-1062.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-5sh","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":35067,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2016\/01\/22\/winter-burrowing-owls-on-antelope-island\/","url_meta":{"origin":20973,"position":0},"title":"Winter Burrowing Owls on Antelope Island","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"January 22, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"It was the first of the winter Burrowing Owls I was to find yesterday while on Antelope Island State Park.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Antelope Island State Park&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Antelope Island State Park","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/antelope-island-state-park\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Back lit Burrowing Owl in winter on Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/burrowing-owl-back-lit-mia-mcpherson-5674.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/burrowing-owl-back-lit-mia-mcpherson-5674.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/burrowing-owl-back-lit-mia-mcpherson-5674.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/burrowing-owl-back-lit-mia-mcpherson-5674.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":46046,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2017\/04\/07\/burrowing-owl-at-its-burrow-on-a-cloudy-day\/","url_meta":{"origin":20973,"position":1},"title":"Burrowing Owl At Its Burrow On A Cloudy Day","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"April 7, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"I photographed this Burrowing Owl adult at its burrow earlier this week not too long after a huge bank of clouds moved over Antelope Island State Park.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Antelope Island State Park&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Antelope Island State Park","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/antelope-island-state-park\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Burrowing Owl adult at burrow on a cloudy day, Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/burrowing-owl-in-burrow-mia-mcpherson-4466.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/burrowing-owl-in-burrow-mia-mcpherson-4466.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/burrowing-owl-in-burrow-mia-mcpherson-4466.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/burrowing-owl-in-burrow-mia-mcpherson-4466.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":46227,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2017\/04\/14\/burrowing-owls-with-wildflowers-on-a-windy-day\/","url_meta":{"origin":20973,"position":2},"title":"Burrowing Owls With Wildflowers On A Windy Day","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"April 14, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"It was challenging to photograph these Burrowing Owls and wildflowers yesterday in the windy conditions but I am glad I had the opportunity because the wildflowers won't last all that long.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Antelope Island State Park&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Antelope Island State Park","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/antelope-island-state-park\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Male Burrowing Owl kicking up sand in a stiff wind, Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/burrowing-owl-wildflowers-mia-mcpherson-8233.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/burrowing-owl-wildflowers-mia-mcpherson-8233.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/burrowing-owl-wildflowers-mia-mcpherson-8233.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/burrowing-owl-wildflowers-mia-mcpherson-8233.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":34929,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2016\/01\/19\/an-adult-burrowing-owl-in-early-spring-on-antelope-island\/","url_meta":{"origin":20973,"position":3},"title":"An adult Burrowing Owl in early spring on Antelope Island","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"January 19, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Among those spring migrants that I most look forward to seeing are the Western Burrowing Owls.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Antelope Island State Park&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Antelope Island State Park","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/antelope-island-state-park\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"An adult Burrowing Owl in early spring next to it burrow on Antelope Island State Park, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/burrowing-owl-spring-mia-mcpherson-1100.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/burrowing-owl-spring-mia-mcpherson-1100.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/burrowing-owl-spring-mia-mcpherson-1100.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/burrowing-owl-spring-mia-mcpherson-1100.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":98321,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2021\/12\/20\/aba-bird-of-the-year-2022-the-burrowing-owl\/","url_meta":{"origin":20973,"position":4},"title":"ABA Bird Of The Year 2022 &#8211; The Burrowing Owl!","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"December 20, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"It was announced yesterday that the Burrowing Owl is the 2022 ABA Bird of the Year! Burrowing Owls are small, long-legged, sandy-colored, charismatic owls with bright yellow eyes.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Antelope Island State Park&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Antelope Island State Park","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/antelope-island-state-park\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Immature Burrowing Owl on a stump in soft morning light, Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/burrowing-owl-immature-morning-light-mia-mcpherson-7693.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/burrowing-owl-immature-morning-light-mia-mcpherson-7693.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/burrowing-owl-immature-morning-light-mia-mcpherson-7693.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/burrowing-owl-immature-morning-light-mia-mcpherson-7693.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4744,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/04\/06\/burrowing-owls-friday-photos\/","url_meta":{"origin":20973,"position":5},"title":"Burrowing Owls &#8211; Friday Photos","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"April 6, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"I've selected a few Burrowing Owl (Athene cunicularia) images taken a few years ago to post today.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Antelope Island State Park&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Antelope Island State Park","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/antelope-island-state-park\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Burrowing Owl adult near mudflats of the Great Salt Lake, Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/burrowing-owl-adult-mia-mcpherson-0343.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/burrowing-owl-adult-mia-mcpherson-0343.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/burrowing-owl-adult-mia-mcpherson-0343.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/burrowing-owl-adult-mia-mcpherson-0343.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\/20973","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=20973"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20973\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/160112"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20973"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20973"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20973"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}