Cactus Ferruginous Pygmy
Owl For a tiny
bird, the cactus ferruginous pygmy-owl has a very
long name. It is small enough to hold in your hand.
It averages 6.5 inches (17 cm) in length and weighs
only 2.5 ounces (62 g). Females usually weigh a few
tenths of an ounce more than the males. The
feathers on their back are creamy-brown, and the
underside is cream-colored with reddish-brown
stripes. The top of their heads are slightly
streaked and on the back of the head they have two
black eye spots outlined in white. Their eyes are
yellow and round. Their tails are longer than most
owls, and they have no tufts on their
ears. Cactus
ferruginous pygmy-owls live in the desert habitat
of southern Arizona in the southwestern United
States, and northwestern Mexico. They live at
elevations
below 4,000 feet (1,200 m). The owl prefers
desertscrub thickets, trees and large cacti for
nesting and roosting. In the Sonoran desert the owl
often lives where ironwood, mesquite, acacia,
saguaro and organ pipe cacti can be found. The
vegetation provides good cover for its favorite
prey of birds, lizards, insects, small rodents,
frogs and earthworms. Cactus ferruginous pygmy-owls
are fierce hunters and can kill a dove twice their
size. The vegetation also shields it from larger
birds of prey. The pygmy-owl is diurnal and hunts
during the day. Cactus
ferruginous pygmy-owls don't migrate. In late in
the winter or early spring they begin nesting in
the cavities of trees or cacti like the saguaro and
organ pipe. These holes have often been made by
woodpeckers. They lay 3 to 5 white eggs in late
April, which hatch about 28 days later. The young
owls are fed by both parents. They fledge, or leave
the nest about 27 to 30 days after hatching. They
stay close to their parents until they are ready to
be on their own. This small
owl' future is in grave danger from the loss of its
habitat. It used to be very common and could be
found in Arizona from the New River north of
Phoenix to the Mexican border. Now they can only be
found between Tucson and the Mexican border, and
less than 50 remain in the state. Most of the owls
live in the ironwood forests northwest of Tucson
and Marana. They live in the fastest growing areas
of Tucson. People are moving into the desert,
changing the environment to suit their needs, and
destroying the forest's fragile ecosystem. Logging,
woodcutting and livestock overgrazing are other
threats the pygmy owls face. A federal
judge removed the pygmy owl's critical habitat
status in September 2001. She stated that the U.S.
Fish and Wildlife consider
the economic impact when it designated 731,000
acres critical habitat for the cactus ferruginous
pygmy-owl in 1999. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service is expected to redesignate their critical
habitat by April 2003, and it is hoped their
habitat will double as a result. It is presently on
the U.S. Endangered Species List. They are also in
the CITES, Appendix II which allows the owls to be
traded commercially only if it doesn't harm their
survival. 2002
bibliography: Photo of pygmy owl in saguaro courtesy of the Arizona Game and Fish Department. Photo of pygmy owl in hand by Michael Terrio. "Cactus Ferruginous
Pygmy-Owl", "Biodiversity
Activist SearchResult Page", "Biodiversity
Activist SearchResult Page", "CACTUS
FERRUGINOUS&emdash;Kid's Planet &endash; Defenders of
Wildlife", "Cactus Ferruginous
Pygmy-Owl (Glaucidium brasilianum cactorum)", "Ferruginous
Pygmy-Owl, eNature.com", http://www.enature.com/fieldguide/showSpeciesSH.asp?curGroupID=1&sh "CACTUS FERRUGINOUS
PYGMY-OWL (Glaucidium brasilianum cactorum)", |