The austral pygmy owl (''Glaucidium nana'') is a species of

owl Owls are birds from the order Strigiformes (), which includes over 200 species of mostly solitary and nocturnal birds of prey typified by an upright stance, a large, broad head, binocular vision, binaural hearing, sharp talons, and feathers a ...

in the family

Strigidae The true owls or typical owls (family Strigidae) are one of the two generally accepted families of owls, the other being the barn owls (Tytonidae). This large family comprises 230 living or recently extinct species in 24 genera. The typical owl ...

. It is found in

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

and

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

Taxonomy and systematics

The austral pygmy owl has sometimes been treated as a subspecies of

ferruginous pygmy owl The ferruginous pygmy owl (''Glaucidium brasilianum'') is a small owl that breeds in south-central Arizona and southern Texas in the United States, south through Mexico and Central America, to South America into Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay and Arge ...

(''Glaucidium brasilianum'') but DNA studies and other data support its being a species in its own right. It is

monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unispe ...

.Remsen, J. V., Jr., J. I. Areta, E. Bonaccorso, S. Claramunt, A. Jaramillo, D. F. Lane, J. F. Pacheco, M. B. Robbins, F. G. Stiles, and K. J. Zimmer. Version 24 August 2021. A classification of the bird species of South America. American Ornithological Society. https://www.museum.lsu.edu/~Remsen/SACCBaseline.htm retrieved August 24, 2021Norambuena, H. V. (2020). Austral Pygmy-Owl (''Glaucidium nana''), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (T. S. Schulenberg, Editor). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.aupowl1.01 retrieved September 6, 2021 Austral_Pygmy-owl

Description

The austral pygmy owl is long. Males weigh and females . It has gray-brown and red morphs and intergrades between them. Adults of both morphs have a pale grayish brown face with dark flecks, whitish "brows" over pale yellow eyes, and black "false eyes" on the nape. The gray-brown morph's upperparts are dark grayish brown with whitish dots of variable size and shape. The tail is also dark grayish brown with narrow buffy bars. The throat is white, the sides of the upper breast dark grayish brown, and the underparts off-white with dark grayish brown streaks. The red morph has a similar pattern but reddish brown replaces the dark grayish brown.

Distribution and habitat

The austral pygmy owl is found from approximately

Valparaíso Province Valparaíso Province ( es, Provincia de Valparaíso) is one of eight provinces of the central Chilean region of Valparaíso (V). Its capital is the coastal city of Valparaíso (pop. 275,982). Administration As a province, Valparaíso is a second- ...

in Chile and Neuquén Province in western Argentina south to the tip of

Tierra del Fuego Tierra del Fuego (, ; Spanish for "Land of the Fire", rarely also Fireland in English) is an archipelago off the southernmost tip of the South American mainland, across the Strait of Magellan. The archipelago consists of the main island, Isla ...

. In Chile it ranges in elevation from sea level to . It inhabits a variety of landscapes from city parks and farmland with scattered trees to deciduous forests and thickets, evergreen shrublands, temperate and southern beech (''

Nothofagus ''Nothofagus'', also known as the southern beeches, is a genus of 43 species of trees and shrubs native to the Southern Hemisphere in southern South America (Chile, Argentina) and Australasia (east and southeast Australia, New Zealand, New Gui ...

'') forests, and Patagonian scrub/steppe.

Behavior

Feeding

The austral pygmy owl is primarily diurnal but is also active at night. It is a solitary hunter that sallies from perches to capture insects, birds, mammals, and reptiles. It has been documented taking birds almost double its own weight.

Breeding

The austral pygmy owl usually nests in a tree cavity but has also been documented using holes in earthen banks. They lay a clutch of three to five eggs between September and November, and the female alone incubates them.

Vocalization

The austral pygmy owl has five primary vocalizations. Pairs maintain contact with "a whistle with 6 to 7 notes/sec described as ''huj-huj-huj-huj-huj-huj''". Their territorial call is "a sharp trill described as ''truie-truie-yi-yi''". Nestlings make "soft metallic chirps ''trigigigirrr'' or ''trigigick''". Both sexes make a courtship call, "a whistle...described as ''tiririi-tiririi'', and an undefined call rendered as ''diud'' or ''diuh''".

Status

The IUCN has assessed the austral pygmy owl as being of

Least Concern A least-concern species is a species that has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as evaluated as not being a focus of species conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wild. T ...

. Though its population has not been quantified, the species is "reported to be the most abundant owl in Chile". In agricultural areas it is persecuted because its nocturnal calls are interpreted as an ill omen.

References

External links

Austral Pygmy Owl videos
on the Internet Bird Collection

(for

) with RangeMap
Austral Pygmy Owl photo gallery
VIRE
Photo-High ResPhoto-Medium Res
prba.com {{Taxonbar, from=Q1274057

austral pygmy owl The austral pygmy owl (''Glaucidium nana'') is a species of owl in the family Strigidae. It is found in Argentina and Chile. Taxonomy and systematics The austral pygmy owl has sometimes been treated as a subspecies of ferruginous pygmy owl ( ...

Birds of Chile Birds of Patagonia Birds of Tierra del Fuego

Taxonomy articles created by Polbot