Owls in South Dakota
Our list for South Dakota has 7 owls recorded regularly there: 2 summer visitors and 5 winter visitors
Most likely in October
GBIF · OctShare of all bird records in South Dakota in October, 2019–2024. Each month links to that month’s page.
All 7, most common first
Great Horned OwlBubo virginianusWinter visitorCommon46–63 cmRecorded all year
Burrowing OwlAthene cuniculariaSummer visitorUncommon19–25 cmRegularly Apr–Oct
Snowy OwlBubo scandiacusWinter visitorUncommon52–71 cmRegularly Dec–Mar
Eastern Screech-owlMegascops asioWinter visitorUncommon16–25 cmRecorded all year
Short-eared OwlAsio flammeusWinter visitorUncommon34–43 cmRegularly Oct–Jul
Northern Saw-whet OwlAegolius acadicusWinter visitorUncommon17–21 cmRegularly Oct–Mar
Barred OwlStrix variaSummer visitorRare43–50 cmRegularly Dec–Sep
Smallest to largest
Length, cm- Northern Saw-whet Owl 17–21 cm
- Eastern Screech-owl 16–25 cm
- Burrowing Owl 19–25 cm
- Short-eared Owl 34–43 cm
- Barred Owl 43–50 cm
- Great Horned Owl 46–63 cm
- Snowy Owl 52–71 cm
Body length, bill to tail. Rare birds in grey.
Data: EOD – eBird Observation Dataset (Cornell Lab of Ornithology), accessed via GBIF.org, CC BY 4.0. Records from 2019–2024, aggregated and filtered by Birdfact. How these lists are made