2021 Watchable Wildlife Photo Contest

It seems fitting, but maybe just to us, that the overall winning photograph in the North Dakota Game and Fish Department’s 2021 Watchable Wildlife Photo Contest is a great horned owl perched on a Private Land Open To Sportsmen sign.

Fitting because both the photo contest and the walk-in access program are longtime North Dakota staples. The Watchable Wildlife Photo Contest was initiated more than 30 years ago, and the first PLOTS signs were pounded into the ground in the late 1990s.

The great horned owl, of course, is the star of this photograph taken by Thomas W. Wirtz of Bismarck, as it’s been around for eons.

While this stoic, year-round resident is recognized most easily by its feathered ear tufts, it’s also known for initiating nesting in January and February when North Dakota can be at its most inhospitable, and many other feathered creatures are wintering way south of here.