{"id":3641,"date":"2011-11-12T06:06:58","date_gmt":"2011-11-12T12:06:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=3641"},"modified":"2025-05-08T09:44:35","modified_gmt":"2025-05-08T14:44:35","slug":"great-horned-owl-tiger-of-sky","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2011\/11\/12\/great-horned-owl-tiger-of-sky\/","title":{"rendered":"Great Horned Owl – Tiger of the Sky"},"content":{"rendered":"

Great Horned Owls are called many names, a few of them are Hoot Owl, Tiger Owl, Cat Owl and Winged Tiger. My favorite name for Great Horned Owls is “The Tiger of the Sky” and it is very descriptive of this large, fierce owl.<\/p>\n

\"Great\u00a0Great Horned Owl perched in a Tamarisk –\u00a0 Nikon D300, f6.3, 1\/1000, ISO 400, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

While the Great Gray Owl is North America’s largest owl the Great Horned Owl may well be the fiercest owl. Great Horned Owls are apex predators, meaning that as adults they are not preyed upon. I know I don’t want to have those large talons take a chunk out of me.<\/p>\n

I spotted this Great Horned Owl\u00a0yesterday on Antelope Island State Park<\/span><\/a> and it was an unexpected delight.\u00a0I only had a few minutes with the owl because another car came along and I suspect that two vehicles made it uncomfortable enough to fly away.<\/p>\n

Some photographers may not have taken the image because the owl was perched in a Tamarisk which is an invasive shrub also known as Salt Cedar but I figure the owl didn’t care if it was invasive or not so I shouldn’t either. Besides; the autumn colors of the Tamarisk complimented the owl’s coloration very nicely.<\/p>\n

It was the second time this week that I have found and pointed out a Great Horned Owl in unexpected locations, I’ll be keeping a look out for them again in the future.<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

Click 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":"

My favorite name for Great Horned Owls is “The Tiger of the Sky” and it is very descriptive of this large, fierce owl.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":143488,"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":[511,27,1022,209,26],"tags":[4004,970,2663,4203,11978,4620,4108,1072,3967,294,5154,5153,1074,1073],"class_list":["post-3641","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-antelope-island-state-park","category-avian","category-davis-county-utah","category-great-horned-owls","category-utah","tag-adult","tag-autumn","tag-birds-of-prey","tag-bubo-virginianus","tag-desert-island","tag-fall","tag-great-horned-owl","tag-hoot-owl","tag-owl","tag-owls","tag-salt-cedar","tag-tamarisk","tag-tiger-of-the-sky","tag-tiger-owl"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/great-horned-owl-mia-mcpherson-8220.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-WJ","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":133770,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2024\/09\/04\/great-horned-owl-mystery\/","url_meta":{"origin":3641,"position":0},"title":"Great Horned Owl Mystery – 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. 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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":9816,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/10\/17\/a-young-great-horned-owl-is-a-tiger-of-the-sky-in-the-making\/","url_meta":{"origin":3641,"position":2},"title":"Young Great Horned Owl is a Tiger of the Sky in the making","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"October 17, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"I love the descriptive name \"Tiger of the Sky\" when referring to Great Horned Owls, they are fierce, fearless and ferocious and the young owl in the image above is a 'Tiger in the Sky\" in the making.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Young Tiger of the Sky - Great Horned Owl chick, Glacier County, Montana\u00a0","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/great-horned-owl-juvenile-montana-mia-mcpherson-6944.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-juvenile-montana-mia-mcpherson-6944.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/great-horned-owl-juvenile-montana-mia-mcpherson-6944.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":3641,"position":3},"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. 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