This week’s Bird of the Week, compliments of the Weminuche Audubon Society and Audubon Rockies, is the northern pygmy owl.
This tiny owl once again showed up to be counted for the Pagosa Springs Christmas Bird Count. One of our young birders spotted one late in the day surveying its territory from a perch high atop a bare tree. This owl hunts most actively during periods of dawn and dusk, but is also often active during the day.
The northern pygmy owl, not much larger than a sparrow, easily goes undetected in its home in the mountain forests of western North America. It has a large, circular head with white speckles and white spots on its brown back. Yellow eyes and a sharp yellow bill confer a fierce look.
This owl lacks the adaptations for exceptional hearing that are found in nocturnal owls. These include asymmetrically aligned ears, flattened facial disks which funnel sound to the ears and silent flight feathers. Instead, pygmy owls rely more on vision and surprise to hunt prey, sitting quietly, ready to pounce. They mainly eat small birds, but also take small mammals, insects and reptiles. In winter they may move to lower elevations and look for an easy meal near bird feeders.
The northern pygmy owl is among the dozens of species of owls, hawks and falcons with “eyes in the back of the head”. These feather patches that look like eyes give the appearance that the bird is always watching, both in front of and behind itself. Current theory on these false eyespots believes that for pygmy owls they are a method of defending themselves from their own prey.
Employing a bold strategy, small songbirds, which are the preferred food of these ferocious owls, will gather together in mobs to harass an owl into leaving the area, alert other birds to its presence and teach juvenile birds about this danger. Research has demonstrated that these birds are less likely to attack the owl from the rear if they think that they are being watched.
Using your hearing may be the best way to find these unobtrusive birds. The commotion created by mobbing songbirds, as well as the owl’s high-pitched toots, may direct your eyes to this little hunter hidden in plain sight on the branch of a tree.
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