Great Horned Owl

Bubo virginianus

The Great Horned Owl ranges over nearly the entire North American continent, and we believe most of them to be resident throughout its range. There are also populations in several regions of South America.

Great Horned Owls can bring down large prey, even other raptors. They are well known to prey on skunks. Researchers have noted difficulty inspecting their nests because of the smell of skunk carcasses.

Some authorities recognize 20 subspecies of Great Horned Owl, but other scholars believe that there are as few as 10. Presently recognized are 15 subspecies placed into two groups. The so called Magellanic group has but one member, B. v. magellanicus which live from central Peru to the southern tip of South America.

Most of today’s taxonomists recognise 15 subspecies. They often have overlapping ranges:

• B. v. saturatus is resident from southern Alaska to northern California on the Pacific coast.
• B. v. pacificus lives west of the Sierra Nevada Range, south to Baja California in Mexico.
• B. v. elachistus lives in southern Baja California in Mexico.
• B. v. lagophonus breeds from Alaska through the Canadian and US Rocky Mountains, and some migrate south in winter.
• B. v. subarcticus breeds in northwest Canada and east to Hudson Bay.
• B. v. pinorum breeds in the Great Basin and Rocky Mountains, and as far south as Texas in the Guadalupe Mountains.
• B. v. pallescens ranges from California, to Kansas, and south to Mexico.
• B. v. heterocnemis lives in eastern Canada.
• B. v. virginianus lives from Minnesota to Nova Scotia in the north, to Kansas, east Texas and Florida in the south.
• B. v. mayensis is resident on the Yucatan Peninsula (Mexico).
• B. v. mesembrinus lives in Central America.
• B. v. nigrescens lives in the Andes Mountains of Colombia and Peru.
• B. v. nacurutu lives in northern South America.
• B. v. deserti lives in Brazil.
• B. v. magellanicus lives in central Peru and south to Tierra del Fuego.

Most of my meetings with Great Horned Owls have come in California. But Utah, New Mexico, and Texas provided me with encounters during my visits to these states.