{"id":33930,"date":"2015-12-05T05:26:41","date_gmt":"2015-12-05T12:26:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=33930"},"modified":"2025-05-23T06:09:16","modified_gmt":"2025-05-23T11:09:16","slug":"portrait-of-a-fledgling-great-horned-owl","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2015\/12\/05\/portrait-of-a-fledgling-great-horned-owl\/","title":{"rendered":"Portrait of a Fledgling Great Horned Owl"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"PortraitPortrait of a fledgling Great Horned Owl – Nikon D200, tripod mounted, f9, 1\/15, ISO 320, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light, not baited
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

When I can be close enough to see into the eyes of a fledgling Great Horned Owl and take a portrait of it I feel honored and enchanted. In June of 2010 I had the opportunity to photograph Great Horned Owls and their young up in Glacier County, Montana on a farm.<\/p>\n

There are several old buildings where the wood has been aged by the sun, weather and wind that I find very appealing when the owls appear with it. Sometimes they will perch on external parts of the buildings and sometimes they will sit at openings in the buildings. I have also found them in the trees, old farm equipment, and once on and child’s fort that was well weathered too.<\/p>\n

One morning I could see around the corner of one building that a fledgling Great Horned Owl was sitting at one of those openings so I very slowly moved my tripod just beyond the corner where I knew I could turn the tripod head enough to photograph the fledgling. I remember feeling like I was moving in slow motion to get set up.<\/p>\n

The light wasn’t the best and I knew at ISO 320 my shutter speed was going to be very low but I wanted as much detail as I could get, I didn’t even notice how slow my shutter speed was until later when I viewed the files in my lap top.<\/p>\n

It really pays to have a sturdy tripod and good tripod head when photographing at 1\/15 of a second. I could not have taken an image as sharp as this this handheld.<\/p>\n

These owls are on a private family farm and they are used to people being around the buildings but even so I didn’t hang around this fledgling long because I don’t want to stress it or the adults I knew must be watching nearby.<\/p>\n

Looking into this young owl’s eyes was mesmerizing and still is when I look at this image. I also like how I can see the corner of the building in the owl’s eyes along with a slice of Montana sky.<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

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

When I can be close enough to see into the eyes of a fledgling Great Horned Owl and take a portrait of it I feel honored and enchanted. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":146231,"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":[1782,2663,4142,11563,4141,4108,4067,4071,3967,4455,294,4046,153,2315,4783,4193],"class_list":["post-33930","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-glacier-county","category-great-horned-owls","category-montana","tag-barn","tag-birds-of-prey","tag-close-up","tag-farmlands","tag-fledgling","tag-great-horned-owl","tag-immature","tag-juvenile","tag-owl","tag-owlet","tag-owls","tag-portrait","tag-raptors","tag-summer-3","tag-tripod","tag-young"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/great-horned-owl-fledgling-mia-mcpherson-7087.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-8Pg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":7370,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/02\/02\/great-horned-owl-fledgling-in-a-montana-granary-window\/","url_meta":{"origin":33930,"position":0},"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. 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