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Austral Pygmy-Owl
Glaucidium nanum

DESCRIPTION:
Austral Pygmy-Owl
Caburé Grande
Glaucidium nanum
Length: 215mm. Sexes alike. Bill yellowish pearl; iris yellow; facial disc brown and whitish ochraceous framed below by white feathers tipped blackish brown; supercilium white; upper parts of head, hind neck and sides of neck olivaceous brown mottled with ochraceous. On the occipital area there are two large black spots margined with white and ochraceous, appearing like eyes. Back, scapulars and uppertail coverts olivaceous brown, scapulars showing white spots or ovoid-shaped white mottling; rectrices olivaceous brown barred dark brown. Breast, flanks, belly and undertail coverts olivaceous brown and white. Wing coverts olivaceous brown, greater coverts showing white mottling; remiges dark brown with fine margins and small whitish markings; underwing coverts and axillaries ochraceous cream. Legs with white and olivaceous brown feathered tarsi; toes yellowish.
The female is larger than the male. Juveniles are similar to adults. Readily identified by its coloration and small size, the Austral Pygmy-Owl is found solitary or in pairs. It is quite common. It frequents wooded and shrubby regions.
Active both at daytime and night, it is a very tame species that often utters a strong call. In spring and summer the call changes to a series of repeated notes. When small birds become aware of a roosting owl, they mob it and call out in alarm. It is not rare to see this species hunting in the daylight; often only the head of its quarry is eaten. Apart from small birds, it seizes rodents, reptiles and insects, as well as bats. To capture them it resorts to a very interesting strategy that consists of flying and gliding downwards towards the flying bat, which immediately approaches the object it has detected with its wave system. In this way an owl will try to capture a bat, although it takes several attempts to succeed.
This bird often chooses a hole in a tree for its nest or takes possession of old deserted nests of other birds. As many as five white coloured eggs are laid. Range: from Neuquén and Río Negro, west of Chubut and Santa Cruz to southern Tierra del Fuego. In autumn and winter it disperses as far north as Buenos Aires, La Pampa and, on the west, to La Rioja. It also occurs in Chile from Atacama to the Chilean Tierra del Fuego.
Illustrated Handbook of the Birds of Patagonia
Kindness: Kovacs Family
 
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Photographs: Mariano Diez Peña


Birding Patagonia • Birdwatcing in Bariloche, Patagonia, Argentina and Chile.
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Photographs on the website: Mariano Diez Peña