{"id":7122,"date":"2013-01-14T03:55:49","date_gmt":"2013-01-14T10:55:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=7122"},"modified":"2024-08-16T06:10:24","modified_gmt":"2024-08-16T11:10:24","slug":"barn-owls-and-harsh-winters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/01\/14\/barn-owls-and-harsh-winters\/","title":{"rendered":"American Barn Owls and Harsh Winters"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"AmericanAmerican Barn Owl flying over a marsh in winter – Nikon D300, f7.1, 1\/1600, ISO 500, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

American Barn Owls are typically strictly nocturnal but during harsh winters with lots of snow they do hunt during the day here in Utah. It has been bitter cold for some time now and we have had lots of snow falling during recent storms and that snow makes it difficult for American Barn Owls to find their prey.<\/p>\n

Cold makes the owls need more calories to survive so they start hunting during daylight hours. So while it makes me and other bird photographers happy to photograph them during the day it is also sad that if it doesn’t warm up and the snow doesn’t melt some of these beautiful owls will die because of starvation.<\/p>\n

The flying American Barn Owl above was photographed three days ago while it hunted marshy areas at Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area in northern Utah. I appreciated that the owl was flying south towards the light because that created a catch light in the owl’s deep-set eyes.<\/p>\n

\"AmericanAmerican Barn Owl close up – Nikon D300, f7.1, 1\/1600, ISO 500, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

The Barn Owl above flew almost too close to photograph it, much like the Golden Eagle<\/a><\/span> I had photographed on Antelope Island earlier in the morning. At least with this owl I didn’t clip the wings like I did on the eagle and even though the Barn Owl was flying away from the sun I was able to get some light in the eye because of the reflected light off of the snow below the owl.\u00a0 I wish I would have had a touch more room in front of and below the owl and even though I could add it in Photoshop I am not fond of altering my images to that degree, besides, I like this close up view.<\/p>\n

\"AmericanAmerican Barn Owl fly by – Nikon D300, f7.1, 1\/1000, ISO 400, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

When this Barn Owl flew past me I could see that it had some ice and snow on its feet, that makes me feel chilled just thinking about having to live and survive\u00a0in such harsh conditions. There were still a few fluffy clouds when I took this image and I quite liked how they created this lovely pastel blue background with interest added because of those clouds.<\/p>\n

\"AmericanAmerican Barn Owl perched on a kestrel nest box – Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

I photographed this Barn Owl perched on a snow-covered Kestrel nest box yesterday morning, the hoar-frost is still visible on the owl’s facial disc and that was at 9:51 am. The temperature around that time had risen to about 6 degrees Fahrenheit. My right hand was bare while I photographed this owl and before leaving the owl my hand had gone numb, later I felt relief when my hand started to hurt as they warmed back up.<\/p>\n

Barn Owls also fly during the day when they have chicks in the nest, especially large broods when they can’t catch enough prey at night to feed all of those hungry owlets.<\/p>\n

They are gorgeous owls and I feel like I have been given a gift whenever I can photograph them during the day, I hope they survive this latest polar blast.<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

PS: it is -4F a few minutes before this post was published.<\/p>\n

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

American Barn Owls are typically strictly nocturnal but during harsh winters with lots of snow they do hunt during the day here in Utah. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":132556,"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":[129,27,1022,697,26],"tags":[3985,2663,4142,4052,4122,4494,4201,4094,3967,294,4353,4104,4050,49,4095,373],"class_list":["post-7122","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-barn-owls","category-avian","category-davis-county-utah","category-farmington-bay-wma","category-utah","tag-barn-owl","tag-birds-of-prey","tag-close-up","tag-flight","tag-flying","tag-harsh-winter","tag-hoar-frost","tag-marsh","tag-owl","tag-owls","tag-owls-of-utah","tag-perched","tag-snow","tag-tyto-furcata","tag-wetlands","tag-winter"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/barn-owl-flight-winter-snowy-mia-mcpherson-9479.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-1QS","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":76280,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/12\/20\/hunting-barn-owl-in-flight-over-the-frozen-marsh-at-farmington-bay-wma\/","url_meta":{"origin":7122,"position":0},"title":"Hunting American Barn Owl In Flight Over The Frozen Marsh At Farmington Bay WMA","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"December 20, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"During the winter there are times I am able to photograph Barn Owls in flight during the day when the snow is deep and the temps are bitter cold.","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":"Hunting American Barn Owl in flight, Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/barn-owl-hunting-daytime-mia-mcpherson-9521.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/barn-owl-hunting-daytime-mia-mcpherson-9521.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/barn-owl-hunting-daytime-mia-mcpherson-9521.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/barn-owl-hunting-daytime-mia-mcpherson-9521.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":50197,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2017\/12\/24\/barn-owl-in-a-winter-white-out\/","url_meta":{"origin":7122,"position":1},"title":"American Barn Owl in a Winter White Out","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"December 24, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Four years ago I photographed a American Barn Owl in a winter white out at Farmington Bay WMA and I have to admit that photographing it was tough.","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 a snow-covered marsh, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/barn-owl-winter-mia-mcpherson-2061.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-mia-mcpherson-2061.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/barn-owl-winter-mia-mcpherson-2061.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/barn-owl-winter-mia-mcpherson-2061.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":7237,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/01\/24\/barn-owl-on-a-foggy-morning\/","url_meta":{"origin":7122,"position":2},"title":"American Barn Owl On A Foggy Morning","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"January 24, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Fog can add a moody feel to images and yesterday there was plenty of fog at Farmington Bay WMA. There were a few Barn Owls hunting for food and I captured images of this one as it flew towards me.","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 on a foggy morning at Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/barn-owl-flight-mia-mcpherson-4086.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/barn-owl-flight-mia-mcpherson-4086.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/barn-owl-flight-mia-mcpherson-4086.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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have only seen one Barn Owl on the wing on the 6th of January as it flew over the marsh 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":"Adult American Barn Owl on the wing, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/barn-owl-flight-flats-mia-mcpherson-5834.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-flight-flats-mia-mcpherson-5834.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/barn-owl-flight-flats-mia-mcpherson-5834.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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