Great Horned Owl
Massive owl with ear tufts, a deep paired hoot, and formidable dusk hunting ability
Artwork inspired by Francis Lee Jaques
For Great Horned Owl (Bubo virginianus), record the whole form before isolating details. For Great Horned Owl, use “Ear-like feather tufts” for the first hypothesis and “White throat patch” for confirmation.
Place the sighting of Great Horned Owl in context by recording “woodlots, shelterbelts, cliffs, and city parks” and “Year-round”. For Great Horned Owl, the detail “Deep hooting duet” makes the observation easier to check.
- Best clue
- Massive owl with ear tufts and a deep paired hoot
- Habitat
- woodlots, shelterbelts, cliffs, and city parks
- Typical timing
- Year-round
Quick guide
- Read the form
- Ear-like feather tufts
- Cross-check
- White throat patch; context: woodlots, shelterbelts, cliffs, and city parks
Field decisions for Great Horned Owl
- Begin with structure
- Begin with Ear-like feather tufts, then confirm the feature holds as posture and light change.
- Challenge the first impression
- After the overall form, confirm White throat patch and record Deep hooting duet only when it can be observed directly.
- Check when and where
- Use woodlots, shelterbelts, cliffs, and city parks as ecological context, then compare the date and conditions with Year-round.
- Keep behavior natural
- Photograph Great Horned Owl only from a distance that preserves normal behavior and leaves the surrounding habitat intact.
Good to know
For Great Horned Owl, repeated quiet observation from one position generally reveals more diagnostic information than following, handling, or repositioning the subject.
Notice these
- Ear-like feather tufts
- White throat patch
- Deep hooting duet
- Powerful barred body