Eurasian Pygmy Owl

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Sunday July 20th, 2008

Eurasian Pygmy Owl
Glaucidium passerinum

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As of February 2005.
Description	Tiny owl with small head and no ear tufts. Upper-parts dark brown spotted with white buff, under-parts mostly white with barred with dark brown. Dusky facial disk with short white “eyebrows”, eyes yellow and close set.
Size	15-19cm, 50-77g
Range	N & C Europe east to E Siberia, N China and Sakhalin.
Habitat	Montane and boreal forest particularly coniferous.
Food	Small mammals up to the size of dormice and birds up to the size of thrushes.
Breeding	3-7 eggs laid between February and May, normally in a woodpecker hole. Incubation lasts 28 or 29 days, and the young leave the nest by 5 weeks, and become independent some 6-7 weeks later.
Call	A long series of monotonous, flute like notes “deu”.
Status	Not globally threatened, and locally relatively common.
Comments	The species disappeared in W Germany through deforestation and the subsequent increase in the Tawny Owl population. In the late 1960’s it was successfully re-introduced using captive birds, and the population in the Black Forest now stands at over 200 pairs. This is a good example of how important captive breeding is in conservation.
Races	Formerly considered conspecific with some N American pygmy owls, but DNA analysis shows clearly that they are distinct.
G.p.passerinum	N & C Europe east to Yenisei, Siberia
G.p.orientale	E Siberia, Manchuria, N China and Sakhalin

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