{"id":35452,"date":"2016-02-09T05:19:31","date_gmt":"2016-02-09T12:19:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=35452"},"modified":"2025-08-04T12:50:02","modified_gmt":"2025-08-04T17:50:02","slug":"barn-owls-in-winter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2016\/02\/09\/barn-owls-in-winter\/","title":{"rendered":"American Barn Owls in Winter"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"AmericanAmerican Barn Owl flying over a snow covered mudflat – Nikon D810, f6.3, 1\/1000, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

For the first time in a couple of years I saw two American Barn Owls yesterday morning flying along the causeway to Antelope Island State Park.\u00a0 The first American Barn Owl was on the north side of the causeway flying east towards the park entrance over the snow covered mudflat.<\/p>\n

\"FlyingFlying American Barn Owl on a February morning – Nikon D810, f6.3, 1\/1000, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

These large, nocturnal owls do fly during daylight hours in winter when the weather is very cold and there is snow on the ground. They will also fly later in the morning and earlier in the evening when they are raising a brood of chicks.<\/p>\n

The light was beautiful yesterday morning and because the owl was heading east I was able to get a catch light in in its dark, deep set eyes.<\/p>\n

\"SnowSnow covered mudflats and an American Barn Owl in flight – Nikon D810, f6.3, 1\/1000, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

The American Barn Owl appeared to be hunting the vegetation that grows along the sides of the causeway. When I view this image in its full resolution I can see blood on the owl’s feet so it must have had a successful hunt not too long before this photo was taken.<\/p>\n

\"AmericanAmerican Barn Owl flying east along the causeway – Nikon D810, f6.3, 1\/1250, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

The American Barn Owl in these last two frames was flying along the south side of the causeway further west than the first owl and it was also heading east. The background in the image above is a section of the mudflats of the Great Salt Lake where there wasn’t a layer of snow or ice on it.<\/p>\n

\"AmericanAmerican Barn Owl flying and snow on the ground – Nikon D810, f6.3, 1\/1280, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

And in this frame there was a layer of snow lit up by the sun at the bottom of the frame and a thin layer ice on the mudflats behind that. It almost looks like the owl is flying above some fluffy clouds but that isn’t the case at all.<\/p>\n

I am always grateful to see American Barn Owls in winter and to be able to photograph them in sweet light is a delight.<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

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

I am always grateful to see Barn Owls in winter and to be able to photograph them in sweet light is a delight.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":151375,"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":[129,511,27,1022,26],"tags":[4004,3985,2663,4052,4122,4005,11009,4273,3967,294,4050,49,373],"class_list":["post-35452","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-barn-owls","category-antelope-island-state-park","category-avian","category-davis-county-utah","category-utah","tag-adult","tag-barn-owl","tag-birds-of-prey","tag-flight","tag-flying","tag-great-salt-lake","tag-mudflat","tag-mudflats","tag-owl","tag-owls","tag-snow","tag-tyto-furcata","tag-winter"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/barn-owl-flight-mia-mcpherson-0990.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-9dO","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":43133,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2016\/11\/17\/first-snow-of-the-year-winter-birds-ahead\/","url_meta":{"origin":35452,"position":0},"title":"First Snow of the Year – Winter Birds Ahead","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"November 17, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Well, it finally snowed in the Salt Lake Valley last night and when I woke there was a layer of snow on the grass outside my window.","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":"American Barn Owl in flight near the snow covered Great Salt Lake, Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/barn-owl-snow-mia-mcpherson-0993.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/barn-owl-snow-mia-mcpherson-0993.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/barn-owl-snow-mia-mcpherson-0993.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/barn-owl-snow-mia-mcpherson-0993.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":7122,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/01\/14\/barn-owls-and-harsh-winters\/","url_meta":{"origin":35452,"position":1},"title":"American Barn Owls and Harsh Winters","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"January 14, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"American Barn Owls are typically strictly nocturnal but during harsh winters with lots of snow they do hunt during the day here in Utah.","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":"American Barn Owl flying over a marsh in winter, Farmington Bay 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McPherson","date":"November 30, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Barn Owls are gorgeous with their dark as ebony eyes, beautiful plumage and graceful flight so I find it difficult to suppress my delight when I see them on the wing.","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":"American Barn Owl on the wing in flight over a marsh at Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/barn-owl-flight-snow-mia-mcpherson-9347.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/barn-owl-flight-snow-mia-mcpherson-9347.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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able to photograph a American Barn Owl in flight flying directly towards me with the snowy Promontory Mountains in the background while at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge.","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":"American Barn Owl flight with snowy mountains, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/barn-owl-winter-flight-mia-mcpherson-7826.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/barn-owl-winter-flight-mia-mcpherson-7826.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/barn-owl-winter-flight-mia-mcpherson-7826.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 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Barn, Burrowing, Great Horned and Short-eared Owls are the owls that I photograph most often here in northern Utah.","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":"Young Short-eared Owl resting in front of sage, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/short-eared-owl-juvenile-sage-mia-mcpherson-2874.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/short-eared-owl-juvenile-sage-mia-mcpherson-2874.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/short-eared-owl-juvenile-sage-mia-mcpherson-2874.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/short-eared-owl-juvenile-sage-mia-mcpherson-2874.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\/35452","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=35452"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35452\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/151375"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35452"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35452"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35452"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}