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Great Horned Owl

A Great Horned Owl sits on the branch of a bare tree. Its back faces the viewer, and its head is also turned towards slightly towards the viewer. It has two ear tufts. The sunlight highlights some of its front feathers.

There’s something about owls that’s just really cool. Their calmness, their unique shape, their big eyes. I’ve only ever seen a handful in the wild, and each time is special and exciting.

My Dad and I saw this Great Horned Owl as we were walking through a scrubby, partially wooded area near the beach. We’d been keeping an eye out for an owl the whole time, and we were just about to go home when he turned around and spotted this one’s instantly-identifiable silhouette.

It was super cool. Calm and poised, it perched on an open branch, surveying its quiet, peaceful world as the sun set. Occasionally, it craned its neck to look at something I couldn’t see. I stepped on a branch at one point, and it calmly looked down to fixate its large eyes on me.

So far, both Great Horned Owls I’ve seen in the wild have been near the beach (see the other owl here!). I find that interesting, since while these owls catch and eat a lot of animals, from rodents to snakes to opossums to other birds (they sometimes even try taking a swipe at a porcupine), fish aren’t their favorite.[1] However, in Lives of North American Birds, Kaufman (1996) notes that these owls are “found in practically all habitats in North America” (p. 310).[1] Obviously, that includes wooded areas near the beach.

Speaking of locations, remember how the Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher likes to take its date house hunting? Great Horned Owls also like to house hunt, but they prefer houses that are move-in ready. They like to take over nests already made by other birds, or they find a natural area, like the edges of cliffs, that will do the trick.[1] They may decorate the area lightly with some feathers.

Owl close up

Changes in location also bring changes in these owls’ coloration. Great Horned Owls in different regions can look dramatically different. In snowy, western taigas, the owls can be pale gray.[2] In the east, where this one was found, they look more vibrant, with ruddy faces. Overall, females tend to be “browner and more heavily marked” (Sibley, 2000, p. 274).[2] They also are up to 20% larger than the males.[3]

Want another clue as to whether the owl is a male or a female? Listen and count. A deeper pitched hoot is the mark of a male Great Horned Owl.[4] Also, according to Peterson, male Great Horned Owls tend to hoot 4-5 times in a row, while females sing out more, up to 8 hoots.[5]

This owl didn’t give a hoot. The area it was resting in was serene, and it seemed content to watch its world quietly. Without another owl to compare it to, I’m not sure whether it’s a male or a female. However, I do know it was really cool and calm and striking and beautiful. And I’m so thankful I was able to see it with my Dad.

A further away view than the previous two photos, the photo shows more of the branches, including one branch with some twigs and plants captured in it on the left. The Great Horned Owl sits on the right.


The Details:

Scientific name: Bubo virginianus
Order: Strigiformes
Family: Strigidae
Seen: Perched on a barren tree, in a shrubby, wooded area near the beach around sunset
Month: February
Range: The Great Horned Owl can be found all over the United States, excluding Hawaii.[6] It can also be found in Canada, Mexico, and down into South America. See the Great Horned Owl's range map on the Cornell Lab's website.

Note: In some areas, the Great Horned Owl’s range overlaps with the Long-Eared Owl, which also has tufted ears.[7] You can see also see the Long-Eared Owl's range map on the Cornell Lab's website.[8] One way to tell them apart is to look at their stomachs. The Great Horned Owl has horizontal barring (shown below—you can remember “horned” and “horizontal”) while a Long-Eared Owl has more vertical looking streaks.[5, 7]

A photo more underneath the Great Horned Owl, showing the brown horizontal barring across its white stomach. Its head is turned and is partly blocked by the branch, so of its face, only the very edge and one of its ear tufts can be seen. The sky looks blue.


Learn More About These Owls:

  1. Kaufman, K. (1996). Lives of North American birds. Houghton Mifflin.
  2. Sibley, D. A. (2000). The Sibley guide to birds. Chanticleer Press.
  3. Zoo Idaho. (n.d.). Great Horned Owl.
  4. Cornell Lab of Ornithology. (n.d.). Great Horned Owl: Overview. All About Birds.
  5. Peterson, R. T. (1980). A field guide to the birds east of the Rockies (4th ed.). Houghton Mifflin Company. 
  6. Cornell Lab of Ornithology. (n.d.). Great Horned Owl: Range map. All About Birds. 
  7. Kaufman, K. (2000). Field guide to birds of North America. Houghton Mifflin.
  8. Cornell Lab of Ornithology. (n.d.). Long-eared Owl: Range map. All About Birds.






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