Great Horned Owl

(Bubo virginianus)

Conservation Status
Great Horned Owl
Photo by Ramona Abrego
  IUCN Red List

LC - Least Concern

     
  NatureServe

N5 - Secure

SNR - Unranked

     
  Minnesota

not listed

     
           
           
           
           
 
Description
 
 

 

 
     
 

Size

 
 

18 to 25 in length

36 to 60 wingspan

 
     
 

Voice

 
   
     
 

Similar Species

 
     
     
 
Habitat
 
 

Fragmented forests, riparian woodlands, landfills.

 
     
 
Ecology
 
 

Migration

 
 

 

 
     
 

Nesting

 
 

 

 
     
 

Food

 
 

 

 
     
 
Distribution
 
 

Occurrence

 
 

Common year-round resident

 
         
 

Maps

 
 

The Minnesota Ornithologists’ Union All Seasons Species Occurrence Map

 
         
 
Taxonomy
 
  Class Aves (birds)  
 

Order

Strigiformes (owls)  
 

Family

Strigidae (typical owls)  
 

Subfamily

Striginae  
 

Genus

Bubo (eagle-owls and horned owls)

 
       
 

Subordinate Taxa

 
 

Baja California Great Horned Owl (Bubo virginianus elachistus)

Californian Great Horned Owl (Bubo virginianus pacificus)

Coastal Great Horned Owl (Bubo virginianus saturatus)

Desert Great Horned Owl (Bubo virginianus pallescens)

Eastern Great Horned Owl (Bubo virginianus virginianus)

North Andean Great Horned Owl (Bubo virginianus nigrescens)

Northeastern Great Horned Owl (Bubo virginianus heterocnemis)

Northern Great Horned Owl (Bubo virginianus subarcticus)

Oaxaca Great Horned Owl (Bubo virginianus mesembrinus)

Rocky Mountains Horned Owl (Bubo virginianus pinorum)

South American Great Horned Owl (Bubo virginianus nacurutu)

Yucatán Great Horned Owl (Bubo virginianus mayensis)

 
       
 

Synonyms

 
 

 

 
       

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 
Visitor Photos
 
           
 

Share your photo of this bird.

 
  This button not working for you?
Simply email us at info@MinnesotaSeasons.com.
Attach one or more photos and, if you like, a caption.
 
 

Molly and Robert Power

 
 

Photo taken through binoculars, but we were still amazed to see this owl in our yard, and during the day!

 
    Great Horned Owl      
 

Ramona Abrego

 
 

Captive owls – Wildlife Science Center

 
    Great Horned Owl   Great Horned Owl  
 

Lynn Rubey

 
 

A Great Horned Owl flying up the river in The Big Stone National Wildlife Refuge as I was up on the granite outcropping.

 
    Great Horned Owl      
           
 

A Great Horned Owl landing on a log. Mostly nocturnal but may hunt during the day.

 
    Great Horned Owl      
 

Bill Reynolds

 
 

The Owl feed good winter on my Guineas, since getting a guard dog, I've only lost one turkey the owls.

 
    Great Horned Owl      
           
 
MinnesotaSeasons.com Photos
 
 

Captive Owl

 
    Great Horned Owl      
           

 

Camera

     
 
Slideshows
 
Great Horned Owl
Andy Reago & Chrissy McClarren
  Great Horned Owl  
Great Horned Owl
JMC Nature Photos
  Great Horned Owl  
Rescuing a Baby Great Horned Owl
Joshua Mayer
  Rescuing a Baby Great Horned Owl  
 
About

I found this baby Great Horned Owl near my house last week and took it in to the emergency vet clinic. It had fallen out of its nest and was very dehydrated but is now doing well. They came back today to try and find the nest, but couldn't locate it. Instead, this little guy will now be fostered by another owl and eventually released back into the wild.

 
Great Horned Owl Night Shots
Craig A. Mullenbach
  Great Horned Owl Night Shots  
 
About

I was fiddling around trying to take star photos and I noticed this guy in the tree. Check out the "more properties" of these photos to see how long the exposures were. Unfortunately, he wouldn't sit still while I had the shutter open. I also had a hard time focusing because I couldn't see him well in the view finder. These are the three best shots of about 20 attempts.

 
Great Horned Owl Eating a Mouse
Craig A. Mullenbach
  Great Horned Owl Eating a Mouse  
 
About

Click on the Slideshow Icon towards the top right. You'll get a full screen view of the Owl eating her mouse.

The handler from the University of Minnesota Raptor Center gave this gal a whole mouse to eat. It was already dead so we didn't see any killing....

Mully410 Critical Blog
A blog for smart people. Stupid people will probably get a headache reading here (unless they stick to the flickr links...pretty pictures).

 
     

 

slideshow

       
 
Visitor Videos
 
       
 

Share your video of this bird.

 
  This button not working for you?
Simply email us at info@MinnesotaSeasons.com.
Attach a video, a YouTube link, or a cloud storage link.
 
 

 

 
     
     
       
       
 
Other Videos
 
  Great Horned Owls (Bubo virginianus)
yohazy
 
   
 
About

Published on Mar 2, 2013

This is a Male and Female Great Horned Owls (Bubo virginianus) preparing for their little nesting of baby owlets. The nest once belong to Ravens as where the Owls dominate and take over the nest Great Horned Owls are also called Tiger Owls.

 
  Great Horned Owl (Bubo virginianus) preening
Stoil Ivanov
 
   
 
About

Published on Apr 13, 2013

Great Horned Owl, (Bubo virginianus) preening and keeping an eye on its chick. Filmed on 4-07-2013 at Fabyan Forest Preserve Geneva, IL.

 
  Great Horned Owl (Strigidae: Bubo virginianus) in Spruce Tree
Carl Barrentine
 
   
 
About

Uploaded on Apr 1, 2011

Photographed at Grand Forks, North Dakota (01 April 2011).

 
       

 

Camcorder

 
 
Visitor Sightings
 
           
 

Report a sighting of this bird.

 
  This button not working for you?
Simply email us at info@MinnesotaSeasons.com.
Be sure to include a location.
 
  Molly and Robert Power
1/16/2021

Location: Albany MN

Photo taken through binoculars, but we were still amazed to see this owl in our yard, and during the day!

Great Horned Owl

 
  Ramona Abrego

Location: Forest Lake

Captive owls – Wildlife Science Center

Great Horned Owl

 
  Lynn Rubey
10/28/2019

Location: Big Stone National Wildlife Refuge

A Great Horned Owl landing on a log. Mostly nocturnal but may hunt during the day.

Great Horned Owl

 
  John Wynn
12/18/2017

Location: 8784 Springwood Drive, Woodbury, MN, Washington County

there is a pair of owls calling back and forth at night. Heard them, and then observed one of them on top of our neighbors roof at midnight tonight. Have been hearing their calls for a couple of years,  but this is the first time I’ve seen one of them.

We have a large rabbit population in the neighborhood so hopefully they are helping control it

 
  Bill Reynolds
2/18/2012

Location: Pennington Co.

The Owl feed good winter on my Guineas, since getting a guard dog, I've only lost one turkey the owls.

Great Horned Owl

 
           
 
MinnesotaSeasons.com Sightings
 
   

 

 

Binoculars

 

Created:

Last Updated:

© MinnesotaSeasons.com. All rights reserved.

About Us

Privacy Policy

Contact Us