Here’s a question. How small can an Owl get? If you said, ‘hmmm about the size of an elf’, you would be right. Meet the Elf Owl (Micrathene whitneyi).
Just how wee be this bird? Well, on average they’re about 12cm in length and weigh 42 grams. Similar in size to a Sparrow. Here’s a picture of one using a mushroom as an umbrella so you can get an idea of just how hard it is for them to find reliable wet-weather rear.
I know, they’re impossibly cute. So how does the world’s tiniest Owl make a living? Mostly, they hang out in the desert near the US-Mexican border where they feed on insects. I mean … I get that they’re a predatory bird, but they aren’t taking anything down larger than a moth.
Like all Owls, they hunt using a combination of acute hearing and deadly stealth (if you’re a moth). They have wings nearly twice as wide as they are long, which means they can fly with minimal flapping.
When nesting they favour abandoned Woodpecker holes in cactus. And yes, they look just as cute, poking their little faces out of these holes.
Being so tiny, they sometimes become targets for bigger beasts looking for a quick feed. But they’ve got a couple of tricks to defend themselves. First, they have a deep call that sounds like it comes from a much larger animal. If that doesn’t work, they also have a habit of playing dead when caught in the hope of lulling their captors into a false sense of security.
They may be tiny, but they’re crafty. And that’s the story of the smallest Owl that ever did live.
29/11/2020
Bird of the Week 