The Dusky Great Horned Owl (Bubo virginianus saturatus) of the Pacific Northwest region of North America is generally considered to be nonmigratory. Here we report a specimen of a Dusky Great Horned Owl that was salvaged in New Mexico and identified based on comparison of its plumage with a large series of museum skins. We attempted to corroborate this identification by comparing mitochondrial DNA sequences between the specimen and a representative sample of 5 Great Horned Owl subspecies from western North America. This analysis revealed minimal mitochondrial genetic variation and no evidence of population genetic structure, suggesting that the marked plumage differences among subspecies evolved since the late Pleistocene. To evaluate the possibility that the salvaged specimen was transported after death, we analyzed its stomach contents. The stomach contained remains of a desert cottontail (Sylvilagus audubonii), a locally abundant rabbit species in central New Mexico. The mitochondrial haplotype of the rabbit was novel but closely related to haplotypes found in New Mexico and west Texas. This is the first report of long distance movement in the Pacific Northwest subspecies of Great Horned Owl, though we cannot rule out the possibility of anomalous melanism. Although there is tremendous potential for forensic-style phylogeographic investigation of animal movements, this study illustrates that sequence databases are not yet adequate to the task, even for common North American vertebrate species.