{"id":41148,"date":"2016-08-19T05:00:22","date_gmt":"2016-08-19T11:00:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=41148"},"modified":"2025-05-08T13:27:02","modified_gmt":"2025-05-08T18:27:02","slug":"sleepy-great-horned-owl-in-montana","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2016\/08\/19\/sleepy-great-horned-owl-in-montana\/","title":{"rendered":"Sleepy Great Horned Owl in Montana"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"SleepySleepy Great Horned Owl male – Nikon D300, f7.1, 1\/400, ISO 800, +0.3 EV, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

I often go back through my images to see what birds I was photographing and where I was photographing them one to many years ago and four years ago today I was in Glacier County<\/span><\/a>, Montana photographing owls, hawks, shrikes and sparrows.<\/p>\n

I photographed this sleepy Great Horned Owl male sitting in a opening of the granary, he was probably exhausted from helping his mate raise their young. It must take an enormous amount of energy to raise Great Horned Owl chicks from the time they hatch until after they fledge and I know I’d be sleepy too if I had to keep up with them. During the time I photographed this male he never fully opened his eyes, perhaps he’d had a long night trying to catch prey for his brood.<\/p>\n

Most of the time I’d prefer to not have the “hand of man” in my images but I find the old wood from barns, granaries, sheds and outbuildings very appealing when I am photographing owls.<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

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

I photographed this sleepy Great Horned Owl male sitting in a opening of the granary, he was probably exhausted from helping his mate raise their young. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":143582,"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":[4004,1782,2663,4203,11120,4049,4108,4062,3967,294,2415,5371,2315],"class_list":["post-41148","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-glacier-county","category-great-horned-owls","category-montana","tag-adult","tag-barn","tag-birds-of-prey","tag-bubo-virginianus","tag-farmland","tag-granary","tag-great-horned-owl","tag-male","tag-owl","tag-owls","tag-owls-of-montana","tag-sleepy","tag-summer-3"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/great-horned-owl-sleepy-mia-mcpherson-0478.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-aHG","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":11157,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/11\/25\/missing-montanas-great-horned-owls\/","url_meta":{"origin":41148,"position":0},"title":"Missing 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Great Horned Owl was resting at the opening of an old granary in Glacier County, Montana when I photographed her.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Female Great Horned Owl in Montana, Glacier County, Montana\u00a0","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/great-horned-owl-female-mia-mcpherson-2781.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-female-mia-mcpherson-2781.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/great-horned-owl-female-mia-mcpherson-2781.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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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":[]},{"id":20812,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2015\/03\/02\/great-horned-owl-fledgling-and-an-old-granary\/","url_meta":{"origin":41148,"position":4},"title":"Great Horned Owl fledgling and an old granary","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"March 2, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"This morning winter is trying to creep back into northern Utah but I am thinking of warmer weather, Montana and Great Horned Owls.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Great Horned Owl fledgling and an old granary, Glacier County, Montana","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/great-horned-owl-fledgling-mia-mcpherson-6731.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-mia-mcpherson-6731.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/great-horned-owl-fledgling-mia-mcpherson-6731.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-mia-mcpherson-6731.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":8692,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/06\/24\/great-horned-owlet-in-a-granary-window\/","url_meta":{"origin":41148,"position":5},"title":"Great Horned Owlet in a granary window","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"June 24, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"I'm extremely fond of owls, it might be their forward facing eyes that draws me to them. 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