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<\/p>\nI realize that Great Horned Owls have the most extensive range of any American Owl but this one still surprised me a little.<\/p>\n
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1\/2500, f\/7.1, ISO 250, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II US, not baited, set up or called in<\/p>\n
I photographed the bird about six weeks ago at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge. This was the first time I’d ever encountered a GHO in wetlands and I suspect it was hunting for waterfowl in this type of habitat even though their diet normally\u00a0consists of 90% mammals and only 10% birds. It was also\u00a0unusual to find this species so active during daylight.<\/p>\n
But one of the reasons these owls are so successful is their\u00a0flexibility in both habitat types and prey size – they’re known to take birds as large as herons. Cornell has documented an attack (several of them actually) by a GHO on a nesting Great Blue Heron and I thought some readers might be interested in watching it – here’s the link<\/a>. The attacks occurred in semi-darkness but what happens is clearly obvious, both times.<\/p>\n Great Horned Owls average less than half the size (by weight – 3.1 lbs vs 6.4 lbs)\u00a0of Great Blue Herons so these attacks\u00a0demonstrate why the\u00a0GHO\u00a0is often referred to as “the tiger of the sky”.<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n <\/p>\n PS – for those who didn’t see my comment late last night\u00a0on yesterday’s post regarding my visit with my daughter Shannon I include it below. I do so because I know many of my readers are concerned about and interested in her progress after her injury.<\/p>\n “We all had a wonderful reunion today! Shannon\u2019s perky, cheeky personality is intact and so are nearly all of her mental functions. Her main problem is retrieving certain words to match the memories, both short and long-term. It\u2019s complicated \u2013 the memories and the words are both there but matching them up can be an occasional problem.<\/em><\/p>\n She has a wonderful attitude, knows her limitations, works hard (very hard) at correcting them and she continues to improve. And without exception she\u2019s cheerful through it all and knows very well how lucky she is to have even survived. Given the situation I couldn\u2019t ask for more.<\/em><\/p>\n