NORTHERN PYGMY OWL
Glaucidium californicum
The Northern Pygmy-Owl may be tiny, but it’s a ferocious hunter with a taste for songbirds. These owls are mostly dark brown and white, with long tails, smoothly rounded heads, and piercing yellow eyes. They hunt during the day by sitting quietly and surprising their prey. As a defensive measure, songbirds often gather to mob sitting owls until they fly away. Mobbing songbirds can help you find these unobtrusive owls, as can listening for their call, a high-pitched series of toots.
Northern Pygmy-Owls are widespread in the mountains of western North America, and they’re active during the day, which gives you a good chance of finding them. But they’re also small and unobtrusive as they sit and wait for prey to approach them, so you’ll need to be observant. The two best ways to find them involve your ears: you may hear them giving high, evenly spaced tooting calls. Or you may hear a commotion of chickadees and other small birds scolding and calling as they mob an owl they’ve discovered. Try to find the agitated birds and you may find the owl that they’re trying to drive away.
NORTHERN PYGMY OWL FACTS:
A plump little owl with short wings and long tail; yellow eyes, yellowish- white beak, dark, white-ringed “false eyes” on back of head
Males: grayish-brown with fine white spotting
Females: tend to be slightly darker than males
Young: spotting on head, dark beak
OTHER NAMES:
California Pygmy Owl, Mountain Pygmy Owl
FAMILY: Strigidae
CLOSEST RELATIVE: Cape Pygmy Owl
NORTHERN PYGMY OWL SIZE:
Females tend to be slightly larger than males
Height: Males 16-18 cm (6.3-7.1 in), Females 16-18 cm (6.3-7.1 in)
Weight: Males 62g (2.2 oz), Females 72g (2.5 oz)
Wingspan Both: 38cm (15.0 in)
NORTHERN PYGMY OWL RANGE:
Western North America, from southeastern Alaska and British Columbia south to California, Arizona, and northern Mexico
NORTHERN PYGMY OWL HABITAT:
Mostly coniferous and deciduous forest edges
NORTHERN PYGMY OWL DIET:
Main foods taken include small to medium sized birds, such as waxwings and chickadees; small mammals, such as mice, voles and shrews; sometimes insects, such as beetles and moths; occasionally small reptiles and amphibians
NORTHERN PYGMY OWL VOICE:
Primary song is a series of evenly spaced high pitched “toots”, but a variety of trills, twitters, and chirps can be heard, especially near nest.
NORTHERN PYGMY OWL NESTING:
Nest Site: cavity nester; nests in holes made by woodpeckers; will also use nest boxes
Eggs: 5-7 eggs
Incubation: 27-29 days
NORTHERN PYGMY OWL HUNTING HABITS:
Hunts during day but also during crepuscular period. Primarily a perch and pounce hunter but known to raid nests of passerines and woodpeckers.
NORTHERN PYGMY OWL CONSERVATION STATUS:
Not globally threatened, though apparently declining in many places in western North America.
All Photos Copyright Francesca Scalpi
