I slowed down yesterday to identify this owl who visited my son and DIL’s yard the other day–and who appears in the video I posted yesterday.
It didn’t take Grok any time at all to identify this owl:
This is a Great Horned Owl (Bubo virginianus).
Key identification features visible in your photo:
• Prominent ear tufts (“horns”)
• Bright yellow eyes
• Large, robust body with mottled brown, gray, and white plumage
• Heavily barred chest and belly
• Distinct facial disc with a white throat patch
These traits rule out the Barred Owl (no ear tufts, dark eyes) and the smaller Long-eared Owl (proportionally longer, closer-set tufts and a more slender build).
Great Horned Owls are common year-round residents across the southeastern U.S., including the Charleston/Mount Pleasant area, and they frequently roost in wooded neighborhoods and wetland edges like the one in your photo.
