Field Guide : Northern Pygmy-Owl
Unlimited edition. 18 x 24 inch, museum-quality poster on matte paper.
Odds are, when you think of owls, you think of nighttime, but the northern pygmy-owl is a daytime hunter. As a result, it’s evolved in ways that differ significantly from most other owls.
Typically, owl species have quiet, fluid wingbeats and attack prey with silent, fixed-wing glides, but the northern pygmy-owl has rapid wingbeats that call to mind the flight of a sparrow. It also wears two large false eye spots on the back of its head to deter attacks from behind, but this ruse only works for predators active during the day, when the eye spots can be seen. The owl’s scientific binomial, Glaucidium gnoma, translates as “marked little owl” or “knowing little owl,” and I think it likely the gnoma, or “marked,” was intended as a reference to the eye spots.
Northern pygmy-owls use a patient stalking strategy and then pounce on small mammals, birds, lizards, and insects in the forest canopy and understory. The Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology’s description of the owl as “a tiny forest ninja that moves clandestinely through” the woodland is amusing and apt. These ninjas live in the mountain range forests of western North America from Canada to Central America. There’s quite a bit of regional variation, and ornithologists debate whether or not the northern pygmy-owl might be several distinct species rather than a singles species complex. The subspecies depicted in this color column is Glaucidium gnoma californicum, the one I call a neighbor, which inhabits the Pacific coastal forests of British Columbia and the United States. This group has more cinnamon morphs (depicted in the color column) than any of the other subspecies do.
Despite calling the northern pgymy-owl a neighbor and it’s being a diurnal species, I’ve never observed this small, charismatic forest owl. I do hear them calling just before dawn on the 20-acre property I steward in Sonoma County. Apparently, those calls are made by males, which move to tall perches to start each day. The vocalization I hear most often is a combo of a lovely, slightly eerie trill followed by an intermittent toot.
Note: These archival poster prints feature rich, appealing colors. I encourage customers to take care in handling them until they are framed/protected for display; the darker colors on the matte paper can be scratched. They ship rolled, so customers need to flatten them before framing (or have their framer do so).
Charitable Sales Model: Whenever one of these poster prints is purchased, a charitable contribution equal to 10% of the print’s cost (or $3.60) is made to a nonprofit working to tackle environmental or social challenges. Read more about my charitable sales model here.
Unlimited edition. 18 x 24 inch, museum-quality poster on matte paper.
Odds are, when you think of owls, you think of nighttime, but the northern pygmy-owl is a daytime hunter. As a result, it’s evolved in ways that differ significantly from most other owls.
Typically, owl species have quiet, fluid wingbeats and attack prey with silent, fixed-wing glides, but the northern pygmy-owl has rapid wingbeats that call to mind the flight of a sparrow. It also wears two large false eye spots on the back of its head to deter attacks from behind, but this ruse only works for predators active during the day, when the eye spots can be seen. The owl’s scientific binomial, Glaucidium gnoma, translates as “marked little owl” or “knowing little owl,” and I think it likely the gnoma, or “marked,” was intended as a reference to the eye spots.
Northern pygmy-owls use a patient stalking strategy and then pounce on small mammals, birds, lizards, and insects in the forest canopy and understory. The Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology’s description of the owl as “a tiny forest ninja that moves clandestinely through” the woodland is amusing and apt. These ninjas live in the mountain range forests of western North America from Canada to Central America. There’s quite a bit of regional variation, and ornithologists debate whether or not the northern pygmy-owl might be several distinct species rather than a singles species complex. The subspecies depicted in this color column is Glaucidium gnoma californicum, the one I call a neighbor, which inhabits the Pacific coastal forests of British Columbia and the United States. This group has more cinnamon morphs (depicted in the color column) than any of the other subspecies do.
Despite calling the northern pgymy-owl a neighbor and it’s being a diurnal species, I’ve never observed this small, charismatic forest owl. I do hear them calling just before dawn on the 20-acre property I steward in Sonoma County. Apparently, those calls are made by males, which move to tall perches to start each day. The vocalization I hear most often is a combo of a lovely, slightly eerie trill followed by an intermittent toot.
Note: These archival poster prints feature rich, appealing colors. I encourage customers to take care in handling them until they are framed/protected for display; the darker colors on the matte paper can be scratched. They ship rolled, so customers need to flatten them before framing (or have their framer do so).
Charitable Sales Model: Whenever one of these poster prints is purchased, a charitable contribution equal to 10% of the print’s cost (or $3.60) is made to a nonprofit working to tackle environmental or social challenges. Read more about my charitable sales model here.
Unlimited edition. 18 x 24 inch, museum-quality poster on matte paper.
Odds are, when you think of owls, you think of nighttime, but the northern pygmy-owl is a daytime hunter. As a result, it’s evolved in ways that differ significantly from most other owls.
Typically, owl species have quiet, fluid wingbeats and attack prey with silent, fixed-wing glides, but the northern pygmy-owl has rapid wingbeats that call to mind the flight of a sparrow. It also wears two large false eye spots on the back of its head to deter attacks from behind, but this ruse only works for predators active during the day, when the eye spots can be seen. The owl’s scientific binomial, Glaucidium gnoma, translates as “marked little owl” or “knowing little owl,” and I think it likely the gnoma, or “marked,” was intended as a reference to the eye spots.
Northern pygmy-owls use a patient stalking strategy and then pounce on small mammals, birds, lizards, and insects in the forest canopy and understory. The Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology’s description of the owl as “a tiny forest ninja that moves clandestinely through” the woodland is amusing and apt. These ninjas live in the mountain range forests of western North America from Canada to Central America. There’s quite a bit of regional variation, and ornithologists debate whether or not the northern pygmy-owl might be several distinct species rather than a singles species complex. The subspecies depicted in this color column is Glaucidium gnoma californicum, the one I call a neighbor, which inhabits the Pacific coastal forests of British Columbia and the United States. This group has more cinnamon morphs (depicted in the color column) than any of the other subspecies do.
Despite calling the northern pgymy-owl a neighbor and it’s being a diurnal species, I’ve never observed this small, charismatic forest owl. I do hear them calling just before dawn on the 20-acre property I steward in Sonoma County. Apparently, those calls are made by males, which move to tall perches to start each day. The vocalization I hear most often is a combo of a lovely, slightly eerie trill followed by an intermittent toot.
Note: These archival poster prints feature rich, appealing colors. I encourage customers to take care in handling them until they are framed/protected for display; the darker colors on the matte paper can be scratched. They ship rolled, so customers need to flatten them before framing (or have their framer do so).
Charitable Sales Model: Whenever one of these poster prints is purchased, a charitable contribution equal to 10% of the print’s cost (or $3.60) is made to a nonprofit working to tackle environmental or social challenges. Read more about my charitable sales model here.