{"id":27855,"date":"2015-08-28T05:26:24","date_gmt":"2015-08-28T11:26:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=27855"},"modified":"2025-05-08T13:08:11","modified_gmt":"2025-05-08T18:08:11","slug":"great-horned-owl-chick-on-honeymoon-island-state-park","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2015\/08\/28\/great-horned-owl-chick-on-honeymoon-island-state-park\/","title":{"rendered":"Great Horned Owl Chick On Honeymoon Island State Park"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"GreatGreat Horned Owl chick in nest – Nikon D200, handheld, f6.3, 1\/800, ISO 200, Nikkor 80-400mm VR at 400mm, natural light, not baited
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

I spent about three months\u00a0 in 2008 watching a Great Horned Owl nest on Honeymoon Island State Park in Florida from hatching until this young owl fledged.<\/p>\n

The nest was high in an old, dead pine where the best light on the nest was in the evenings.<\/p>\n

Because the nest was so high there were many evenings that I came home without the high quality images I dreamed of but each time I was there I relished being able to watch this young owl grow from a small fuzzy chick to watching it branch, stretch its wings and finally to fly away from the nest.<\/p>\n

It isn’t always about the images, some times it is about just being there.<\/p>\n

I felt privileged to photograph this Great Horned Owl family.<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

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

I spent about three months in 2008 watching a Great Horned Owl nest on Honeymoon Island State Park in Florida from hatching until this young owl fledged.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":143572,"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":[27,25,209,468,2000],"tags":[2663,4203,4134,4141,4108,4067,4071,12740,4075,3967,4455,294,4018,8453,4427,373,4193],"class_list":["post-27855","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-florida","category-great-horned-owls","category-honeymoon-island-state-park","category-pinellas-county-florida","tag-birds-of-prey","tag-bubo-virginianus","tag-chick","tag-fledgling","tag-great-horned-owl","tag-immature","tag-juvenile","tag-key","tag-nest","tag-owl","tag-owlet","tag-owls","tag-sky","tag-snag","tag-tree","tag-winter","tag-young"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/great-horned-owl-chick-mia-mcpherson-0678.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-7fh","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":122678,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2024\/03\/05\/great-horned-owl-chick-in-coastal-florida\/","url_meta":{"origin":27855,"position":0},"title":"Great Horned Owl Chick In Coastal Florida","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"March 5, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"This image of a Great Horned Owl chick resting near its nest on the coast Florida in lovely afternoon light brings back wonderful memories for me. It was 2008.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Great Horned Owl chick in coastal Florida, Honeymoon Island State Park, Pinellas County, Florida","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/great-horned-owl-young-in-nest-mia-mcpherson-0661.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-young-in-nest-mia-mcpherson-0661.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/great-horned-owl-young-in-nest-mia-mcpherson-0661.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/great-horned-owl-young-in-nest-mia-mcpherson-0661.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":14564,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2014\/03\/16\/great-horned-owl-and-fledgling-strongly-backlit-by-the-setting-sun\/","url_meta":{"origin":27855,"position":1},"title":"Great Horned Owl and fledgling strongly backlit by the setting sun","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"March 16, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"What can I say about this image of an adult Great Horned Owl feeding its young that is strongly back lit by the setting sun on Honeymoon Island State Park in Florida?","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Great Horned Owl adult feeding fledgling on Honeymoon Island State Park, Pinellas County, 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McPherson","date":"May 20, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"This portrait of a Great Horned Owl chick in a hay barn might not have been taken in the most aesthetically pleasing location but I don't think the owlet gives a hoot about the rusty iron beams and corrugated metal walls.","rel":"","context":"In "Antelope Island State Park"","block_context":{"text":"Antelope Island State Park","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/antelope-island-state-park\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Great Horned Owl chick in a hay barn, Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/great-horned-owl-chick-hay-barn-mia-mcpherson-1773.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-chick-hay-barn-mia-mcpherson-1773.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Yesterday morning, while it was still pitch dark outside, I heard a bird call. Then, I heard a Great Horned Owl hooting. I soon had a mystery on my hands.","rel":"","context":"In "Antelope Island State Park"","block_context":{"text":"Antelope Island State Park","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/antelope-island-state-park\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Great Horned Owl in Tamarisk looking right at me on Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/great-horned-owl-female-perched-mia-mcpherson-thumbnail-1018.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/great-horned-owl-female-perched-mia-mcpherson-thumbnail-1018.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/great-horned-owl-female-perched-mia-mcpherson-thumbnail-1018.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":7370,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/02\/02\/great-horned-owl-fledgling-in-a-montana-granary-window\/","url_meta":{"origin":27855,"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\/27855","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=27855"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27855\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/143572"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27855"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27855"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27855"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}