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Great Horned Owl

Bubo virginianus

Photo by Steve Lenz
Published on Project Noah
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45.9182, -119.151

Field Notes

Description:

Great Horned Owls are the heaviest extant owl in Central and South America and are the second heaviest owl in North America, after the closely related but very different looking Snowy Owl (B. scandiacus). They range in length from 43–64 cm (17–25 in) and have a wingspan of 91–153 cm (36–60 in).[1][2][3][4] Females are invariably somewhat larger than males. An average adult is around 55 cm (22 in) long with a 124 cm (49 in) wingspan and weighing about 1.4 kg (3.1 lb).[5] Depending on subspecies, Great Horned Owls can weigh from 0.6 to 2.6 kg (1.3 to 5.7 lb).[6] Among standard measurements, the tail measures 17.5–25 cm (6.9–9.8 in) long, the wing chord measures 31.3–40 cm (12.3–16 in), the tarsal length is 5.4–8 cm (2.1–3.1 in) and the bill is 3.3–5.2 cm (1.3–2.0 in).[3][7] (Wikipedia)

Habitat:

Grove of trees in a shrub-steppe area.

Notes:

One of a pair that I visited later in the year who had two owlets.

Species ID Suggestions

Comments (7)

now THATS awesome. great shot man.
Thank you! In the second shot the owl is free-falling out of the tree before opening its wings to fly away.
Super shots! What's going on in the second photo?
Photographed
PublishedSeptember 27, 2012

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