Bird
Bird
Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl
Glaucidium brasilianum
The Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl is a tiny, fearless owl of Trinidad's forest edge and woodland, unusual among owls for being frequently active by day, and notable for a pair of dark false eye-spots on the back of the head that may help deter attacks from behind.
The Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl is a tiny, fearless owl of Trinidad's forest edge and woodland, unusual among owls for being frequently active by day, and notable for a pair of dark false eye-spots on the back of the head that may help deter attacks from behind.
Identification
A very small owl around 15 to 18 cm long, reddish-brown to greyish-brown above, depending on colour morph, with fine white spotting on the crown, streaked underparts, and a relatively long tail for an owl, often flicked and cocked while perched. Two dark, black-bordered spots on the nape resemble a second pair of eyes, a pattern thought to confuse or deter potential predators or mobbing birds approaching from behind.
Ecology
Unusually for an owl, the Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl is frequently active during daylight hours as well as at dawn and dusk, hunting small birds, lizards, large insects, and small mammals from an exposed perch. Despite its diminutive size it is a bold and aggressive predator relative to its body size, and its presence is often first revealed when it is mobbed by a group of agitated small birds. It nests in a natural cavity or old woodpecker hole in forest edge or open woodland.
Status in T&T
Found in forest edge, open woodland, and scrub on Trinidad. It is not threatened. It is protected under the Conservation of Wildlife Act and is not a game species.
Threats
- Forest edge and woodland clearance
