{"id":46933,"date":"2017-05-26T05:03:35","date_gmt":"2017-05-26T11:03:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=46933"},"modified":"2025-05-08T14:01:28","modified_gmt":"2025-05-08T19:01:28","slug":"winking-great-horned-owl-in-a-hay-barn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2017\/05\/26\/winking-great-horned-owl-in-a-hay-barn\/","title":{"rendered":"Winking Great Horned Owl in a Hay Barn"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"WinkingWinking Great Horned Owl – Nikon D500, f9, 1\/60, ISO 500, -0.7 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

I haven’t photographed Great Horned Owls since last year when I spotted one in the marsh at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge<\/span><\/a>. Two days ago I photographed one of the adult Great Horned Owls at the hay barn on Antelope Island State Park<\/span><\/a> that appeared to be winking. I say “appeared” because I really don’t know why the owl had its right eye closed, it could have been resting that eye or it could have had something in it which made it close that eye.<\/p>\n

I normally prefer natural settings and natural perches but these owls are often found in barns, granaries and other unnatural settings so I photograph them any way despite my personal preferences. I’m glad that these large owls have adapted to our human intrusion into the natural world and that they will nest in man made nest boxes.<\/p>\n

Despite the unnatural setting I found that I liked the rusty background in this photo which is a support beam for the large metal hay barn which has rusted over time. This might not be my “best” Great Horned Owl photo but it is unique and I like it.<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

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

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. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":143600,"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":false,"_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":[4004,2663,4203,11978,4108,5151,3967,294,4353,5880,5668,165,5167],"class_list":["post-46933","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-birds-of-prey","tag-bubo-virginianus","tag-desert-island","tag-great-horned-owl","tag-hay-barn","tag-owl","tag-owls","tag-owls-of-utah","tag-rust","tag-rusty","tag-spring","tag-winking"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/great-horned-owl-winking-mia-mcpherson-8731.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-ccZ","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":39594,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2016\/05\/20\/portrait-of-a-great-horned-owl-chick-in-a-hay-barn\/","url_meta":{"origin":46933,"position":0},"title":"Portrait of a Great Horned Owl Chick in a Hay Barn","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"May 20, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"This portrait of a Great Horned Owl chick in a hay barn might not have been taken in the most aesthetically pleasing location but I don't think the owlet gives a hoot about the rusty iron beams and corrugated metal walls.","rel":"","context":"In "Antelope Island State Park"","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 chick in a hay barn, Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, 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Utah.","rel":"","context":"In "Antelope Island State Park"","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":31830,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2015\/11\/06\/great-horned-owl-in-a-blizzard\/","url_meta":{"origin":46933,"position":2},"title":"Great Horned Owl in a blizzard","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"November 6, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Almost three years ago I photographed this adult Great Horned Owl in a blizzard near the entrance to Antelope Island State Park.","rel":"","context":"In "Antelope Island State Park"","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 a blizzard, Antelope Island State Park, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/great-horned-owl-snow-mia-mcpherson-7391.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-snow-mia-mcpherson-7391.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/great-horned-owl-snow-mia-mcpherson-7391.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/great-horned-owl-snow-mia-mcpherson-7391.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":79015,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2021\/02\/07\/its-superb-owl-sunday\/","url_meta":{"origin":46933,"position":3},"title":"It’s Superb Owl Sunday!","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"February 7, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"It is Superb Owl Sunday so I wanted to share four of the owls that I see most frequently. 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":[]},{"id":3782,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2011\/12\/01\/double-delight-and-an-observation-great-horned-owls\/","url_meta":{"origin":46933,"position":4},"title":"Double Delight and an Observation – 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 "Antelope Island State Park"","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":15443,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2014\/07\/24\/posts-from-the-past-owls\/","url_meta":{"origin":46933,"position":5},"title":"Posts from the Past – Owls","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"July 24, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Today I am focusing on older posts that have owls in them starting with Great Horned Owls.","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":"Pair of Great Horned Owls with their eyes on the Montana sky, Glacier County\u00a0","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/great-horned-owls-mia-mcpherson-montana-1949.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-owls-mia-mcpherson-montana-1949.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/great-horned-owls-mia-mcpherson-montana-1949.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46933","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=46933"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46933\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/143600"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46933"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46933"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46933"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}