Austral Pygmy Owl

Facts about Austral Pygmy Owl. Austral Pygmy Owl is a type of owl that comes from the Glaucidium genus of the Strigidae family. "Scientific name for Austral Pygmy Owl is Glaucidium nana". Austral Pygmy Owl is largely found in Chile and Argentina. The natural home of the Austral Pygmy Owl breed is temperate forests. Austral Pygmy Owls prefer to live in the southern temperate forest, which is made up of Nothofagus trees, but they also like to live in scrubby second growth and marginal forest. Similar to other pygmy owls in its genus, the Austral Pygmy Owl can be detected by means of its high-toned tooting song.

Features of Austral Pygmy Owl

The Austral Pygmy Owl is a small size owl, with the body length, ranging from 6 7/8 inches to 8 13/32 inches (17 cm to 21 cm). There is a slight difference in wing length, tail length between the male and female Austral Pygmy Owls. The wing length of the male Austral Pygmy Owls ranges from 3 3/4 inches to 4 1/8 inches (9.3 cm to 10.4 cm), whereas the females have a wing length between 3 7/8 inches and 4 3/8 inches (9.7 cm and 10.8 cm). The tail length of the male Austral Pygmy Owls varies from 2 7/8 inches and 2 29/32 inches (6.7 cm and 7.3 cm), whereas female owls have a tail length between 2 7/8 inches and 3 inches (6.8 cm and 7.6 cm). Usually, female Austral Pygmy Owls are heavier than the males, with the body mass ranging from 70 grams to 100 grams (0.07 kg to 0.1 kg), whereas the male ones have a body weight between 56 grams and 75 grams (0.06 kg and 0.08 kg).

The Austral Pygmy Owl has a sturdy brown color body with bright yellow color irides. The Austral Pygmy Owl has a paler bill, and a barred white and brown wings and tail. The head of this owl breed is large in size, and it has a pair of prominent black color on its nape, with a fairly long tail. The Austral Pygmy Owl breed is quite a big species of the genus Glaucidium, with a multifaceted vocal range. Usually, the upperparts of the owl are gray or brown in color, but less common is Rufous. The Austral Pygmy Owl's underparts are white in color, which are marked with wide streaks that assume the same color of its upperparts.

The crown of the Austral Pygmy Owl also contains fine white lines. Overall, the Austral Pygmy Owl breed is identical to the gray and brown morphs of two associated species of owls, such as the Peruvian Pygmy Owl and the Ferruginous Pygmy Owl.

The Austral Pygmy Owl has five major vocalizations, such as:

v A territorial call, which is a sharp trill.

v A contact pair call, which is a whistle with 6 to 7 notes per second.

v Nestling calls, with soft metallic chirps.

v A diuh or diud call made by both genders.

v A courtship call, which is a whistle made by both male and female Austral Pygmy Owls.

Usually, the Austral Pygmy Owls can also use tick-tick calls earlier than making the territorial call.

The facial disc of the Austral Pygmy Owl is pale grayish brown in color, with fine dark streaks and flecks, with white color eyebrows. Feathers on both sides of the midline of the nape of this owl are black tipped, outlining an oval black mark, which are enclosed by white, on both sides of the nape. The Austral Pygmy Owl's mantle and the back have irregular pale spots, and its outer webs of scapulars are seen with large parts of white. The dark grayish brown color flight feathers barred partly with the rows of pale buffish or whitish spots. The Austral Pygmy Owl has yellow color toes, with black color dark horn claws.

Diet of Austral Pygmy Owl

The Austral Pygmy Owl hunts prey during both nighttime and daytime and it mostly feeds on small birds, small mammals, insects, and reptiles.