{"id":31830,"date":"2015-11-06T05:58:32","date_gmt":"2015-11-06T12:58:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=31830"},"modified":"2025-05-08T13:13:13","modified_gmt":"2025-05-08T18:13:13","slug":"great-horned-owl-in-a-blizzard","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2015\/11\/06\/great-horned-owl-in-a-blizzard\/","title":{"rendered":"Great Horned Owl in a blizzard"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Almost three years ago I photographed this adult Great Horned Owl in a blizzard near the entrance to <a href=\"https:\/\/stateparks.utah.gov\/parks\/antelope-island\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Antelope Island State Park<\/span><\/a>.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazyload aligncenter wp-image-143577 size-full\" title=\"Great Horned Owl in a blizzard, Antelope Island State Park, Utah\" src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/great-horned-owl-snow-mia-mcpherson-7391.jpg\" data-orig-src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/great-horned-owl-snow-mia-mcpherson-7391.jpg\" alt=\"Great Horned Owl in a blizzard, 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\/05\/great-horned-owl-snow-mia-mcpherson-7391-200x143.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/great-horned-owl-snow-mia-mcpherson-7391-300x214.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/great-horned-owl-snow-mia-mcpherson-7391-400x286.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/great-horned-owl-snow-mia-mcpherson-7391-600x428.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/great-horned-owl-snow-mia-mcpherson-7391-768x548.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/great-horned-owl-snow-mia-mcpherson-7391.jpg 850w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-orig-sizes=\"(max-width: 850px) 100vw, 850px\" \/><span style=\"color: #808080;\">Great Horned Owl in a blizzard &#8211; Nikon D300, f6.3, 1\/160, ISO 1600, +1.0, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light, not baited<br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<p>It was November 10, 2012 and even though the light was crappy I wanted to try and get Bison images in falling snow and I accomplished that so the owl was just icing on the cake or more appropriately, snow on the valley floor.<\/p>\n<p>I am not sure why this owls eyes look orange rather than the lemony yellow I have seen in other Great Horned Owls in North America.<\/p>\n<p>The eye color seen in this photo reminds me of the European Eagle Owl&#8217;s eye color but their plumage is different.<\/p>\n<p>There are clouds here again this morning and probably some falling snow up in the mountains but I haven&#8217;t seen any snow near where I live.<\/p>\n<p>It might be yet another day at home instead of a morning out in the field. My bird photography addiction is making my fingers twitch.<\/p>\n<p>I want snow. I want birds in my viewfinder. I want to be out shooting!<\/p>\n<p>Life <em>is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n<p>Mia<\/p>\n<p>Click <a href=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/great-horned-owl-images\/\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">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":"<p>Almost three years ago I photographed this adult Great Horned Owl in a blizzard near the entrance to Antelope Island State Park.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":143577,"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":[511,1022,209,26],"tags":[4004,2663,2757,4203,4108,156,3967,294,4050,4509,4899,4328,373],"class_list":["post-31830","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-antelope-island-state-park","category-davis-county-utah","category-great-horned-owls","category-utah","tag-adult","tag-birds-of-prey","tag-blizzard","tag-bubo-virginianus","tag-great-horned-owl","tag-low-light-2","tag-owl","tag-owls","tag-snow","tag-snow-storm","tag-snowstorm","tag-snowy","tag-winter"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/great-horned-owl-snow-mia-mcpherson-7391.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-8ho","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":16781,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2014\/11\/10\/wildlife-in-a-blizzard-two-years-ago-today\/","url_meta":{"origin":31830,"position":0},"title":"Wildlife In A Blizzard Two Years Ago Today","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"November 10, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Today there are great big clouds with small patches of blue sky but two years ago it was very different, we were having a blizzard.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;American Bison&quot;","block_context":{"text":"American Bison","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/wildlife\/bison\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Great Horned Owl in a snow storm at Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/great-horned-owl-blizzard-mia-mcpherson-7382.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-blizzard-mia-mcpherson-7382.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/great-horned-owl-blizzard-mia-mcpherson-7382.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/great-horned-owl-blizzard-mia-mcpherson-7382.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":133770,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2024\/09\/04\/great-horned-owl-mystery\/","url_meta":{"origin":31830,"position":1},"title":"Great Horned Owl Mystery &#8211; Things That Go Hoot In The Night","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"September 4, 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 &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":"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":166260,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2026\/01\/01\/bringing-in-2026-with-a-great-horned-owl\/","url_meta":{"origin":31830,"position":2},"title":"Bringing in 2026 With A Great Horned Owl","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"January 1, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"My first bird of the year was a Great Horned Owl I heard around 4:35 this morning. I never saw them, but that call cut through the New Year darkness.","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":"Great Horned Owl adult on Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/great-horned-owl-adult-antelope-island-mia-mcpherson-8190.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-adult-antelope-island-mia-mcpherson-8190.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/great-horned-owl-adult-antelope-island-mia-mcpherson-8190.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/great-horned-owl-adult-antelope-island-mia-mcpherson-8190.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3782,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2011\/12\/01\/double-delight-and-an-observation-great-horned-owls\/","url_meta":{"origin":31830,"position":3},"title":"Double Delight and an Observation &#8211; Great Horned Owls","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"December 1, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"I'm excited that two Great Horned Owls are using the same roosting location on Antelope Island.","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":"Great Horned Owl - November 11, 2011 on Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah\u00a0","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/great-horned-owl-nov-11-mia-mcpherson-8209.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-nov-11-mia-mcpherson-8209.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/great-horned-owl-nov-11-mia-mcpherson-8209.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":8112,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/04\/15\/great-horned-owls-and-horned-larks-birds-with-ear-tufts\/","url_meta":{"origin":31830,"position":4},"title":"Great Horned Owls and Horned Larks &#8211; Birds with Tufts","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"April 15, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Great Horned Owls and Horned Larks are species of birds that have tufts that I photograph regularly here in Utah.","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 Great Horned Owl on Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah\u00a0","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/great-horned-owl-mia-mcpherson-8239.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-mia-mcpherson-8239.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/great-horned-owl-mia-mcpherson-8239.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":46933,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2017\/05\/26\/winking-great-horned-owl-in-a-hay-barn\/","url_meta":{"origin":31830,"position":5},"title":"Winking Great Horned Owl in a Hay Barn","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"May 26, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Two days ago I photographed one of the adult Great Horned Owls at the hay barn on Antelope Island State Park that appeared to be winking.","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":"Winking Great Horned Owl, Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/great-horned-owl-winking-mia-mcpherson-8731.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-winking-mia-mcpherson-8731.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/great-horned-owl-winking-mia-mcpherson-8731.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/great-horned-owl-winking-mia-mcpherson-8731.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\/31830","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=31830"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31830\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/143577"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31830"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31830"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31830"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}