I decided to find out what were the most commonly asked questions about owls in google search and the one that stood out to me was this one – What is the smallest species of owl?
I decided to gather some information together and tell you a little about the smaller species of owls out there and introduce you to the much-loved Elf Owl, also known as the smallest owl in the world!
Smaller Species of Owls include (but are not limited to):
- Northern Saw-Whet Owl
- The Burrowing Owl
- Little Owl
- Northern Pygmy Owl
- Elf Owl
Northern Saw-Whet Owl
To start off the introduction to the smaller owl species let’s begin with our feathered friend native to North America – the Northern Saw-Whet Owl.
Fun Fact – You may be familiar with this species as the owl that was found within the branches of the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree during its installation in 2020. The owl was named Rocky and had a lot of media attention and public interest when she was taken back to a wildlife center in New York. Frontier Airlines even decided to feature Rocky on the aircraft tails in their fleet.
But anyway, back to the matter at hand! These owls are known for their smaller size as adults are around 17-23cm long with a 40-57cm wingspan with females being slightly larger than males. There size has been likened to that of the American Robin. These poor little guys are also often at risk of being preyed on by larger species of owls.
They are often found in dense Conifers, often at eye level and tend to migrate whenever they feel like it, no pattern has yet to be found about their migratory habits, it seems that some keep a permanent residence whereas others migrate south in winter. They have been known to travel around North America, parts of Alaska, Southern Canada, Majority of the states and up to the mountains in Mexico. Northern Saw-Whet owls love to nest in tree cavities and are known to steal the old nests of other birds.
Description of a Northern Saw-Whet owls includes a round, lightly coloured face with streaks of brown throughout. They have a darker beak and yellow eyes with a pale underpart and darker brown or reddish upper parts with white spots. The owlets tend to have darker brown heads and wings and rust coloured belly and chest with a distinct white mark between their eyes.
As with all owls their hearing is extremely good and therefore they can hunt in complete darkness.
The sound that these owls make have been said to sound like a saw being sharpened (lovely, right?) as it is a repeated tooting sound, apparently. As with most birds, their sounds are used to find a mate so they are louder during the breeding seasons (April – June). Amazingly though, these owls have at least 11 different noises recorded for them.
Northern Saw-Whet owls lay around 4-6 eggs in tree cavities, often by taking over old nests from other birds. The male hunts for the female while she sits on the eggs, but the females will often have more than one clutch of eggs during a mating season with different males, therefore once the owlets are developed enough for the mother to leave, the female will leave the father to care for the owlets while she finds her next male. This mating ritual is known as Sequential Polyandry.
Their feeding includes hunting at night and mainly eating small mammals, mostly being rodents such as Mice, Voles and Shrews. Not so common but they will occasionally hunt Squirrels, Chipmunks, Moles, Bats, Smaller birds, Crustaceans, Frogs, and Insects.
The Burrowing Owl
Burrowing owls measure 19-30cm in length and have a 50-60cm wingspan, therefore these owls as adults are slightly larger than an American Robin, so slightly larger than the Northern Saw-Whet owl but not too far off and still considered a pretty small owl. Although they are small their legs certainly aren’t as they are known for their long legs (check out my article Why Do Owls Have Long Legs? for more on that) but ultimately this allows them to run stealthily and not just rely on flying.
These owls are found throughout North and South America and tend to live in grasslands or deserts and nest in burrows. These owls are not generally nocturnal and instead are awake during the day and hunt during dawn and dusk.
Burrowing owls have brown heads and wings with big, brightly coloured eyes and yellowy/greyish beaks. They have a very flat face with white eyebrows and a white chin. Their chest and belly is white with brown spots and the owlets are similar to the adults in colouring but lack the spots. The males and females are similar in size and appearance without much to tell them apart other than females are often slightly heavier and males might be a bit lighter in colour as they spend more time out in the sunlight when the females are in nests.
Sadly, due to deforestation they are more threatened than ever and therefore the Burrowing owls have expanded their range and now can be found in the Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge, Colorado, South Mexico, Western Central America, Florida, Carribean islands, Southern Brazil and Patagonia. Often those in the north and Canada will migrate south during the colder months.
With a lifespan of around 9 years in the wild and over 10 in captivity, these owls are mainly threated by deforestation, vehicles, and other animals.
They begin to breed during late March-April and tend to only have one mate but sometimes a male with have two. Burrowing owls aren’t too worried about human presence so are known to nest near roads, farms, homes and canals. They are named Burrowing owls because they like to nest in burrows and they tend to line their nests with cattle dung to attract insects to eat and control the microclimate (mmm lovely!). A clutch will consist of 4-12 eggs and these will be incubated by the female for around a month while the male brings food. After they hatch, both parents will hunt.
Burrowing owls will swoop on their pray or sometimes they will chase them on foot across the ground. Their diet consists mainly on large insects, small rodents and sometimes squirrels.
Little Owl
Little owls are small with a plump compact little body and a short tail. They have a flat-topped head and flattened face causing a frowning expression. They are greyish-brown in colour and have spots of white throughout. They tend to be around 22cm in length with a wingspan of 56cm.
They are mostly known for inhabiting warmer parts of Europe, the Palearctic east to Korea and north Africa. The Little owl was brought to Britain at the end of the 19th century and introduced into New Zealand in the early 20th century. They are mainly nocturnal and are found in farmlands, woodlands and semi-deserts and tend to eat insects.
They tend to nest in cavities in trees laying a clutch of around 4 eggs. The female does the incubation and the males brings food. As the eggs hatch, both parents will hunt for food and the owlets will leave the nest at around 7 weeks old.
Thankfully, unlike the Burrowing owls, Little owls do not tend to be at risk and the population is deemed stable. It has been estimated that there are between 560,000 and 1.3 million breeding pairs in Europe and therefore the world population may be around 5-15 million Little owls.
The little owl is known for its association with Greek mythology and in particular the Greek goddess Athena, and Roman goddess Minerva who believe the Little owl respresents wisdom and knowledge ( Read more on this in my post What Do Owls Symbolise?). The Little owl appeared on old Greek coins from 500BC and on a 5th-century B.C statue of Athena holding the Little owl. Many believe the call of the Little owl heralded the murder of Julius Caesar therefore it may be small, but isn’t it mighty!
Northern Pygmy Owl
These small owls are only 15-17cm in overall length as adults. Males have been known to perch at the top of the tallest Conifer they can find and therefore are impossible to spot due to their tiny size and their colouring. They are a greyish/brownish colour with a white spotted head and dark wings, tail and breast. They have yellow eyes and yellowish beak with two black spots on the back of their head which can look like eyes. They have feathered legs and are native to Canada, the US, and Mexico.
Northern Pygmy owls nest and forage in dense forests with streams, they also tend to breed in woodlands and mountains. They will nest in tree cavities and use old woodpecker holes. The female will lay around 4-6 eggs and the female will incubate the eggs as the male hunts dawn to dusk during the first weeks.
Pygmy owls are active during the day and hunt during dawn and dusk. They eat small mammals, birds and large insects. Mountain Pygmys occasionally take prey that is larger than themselves!
Nobody actually knows for sure whether these owls stay in the same place or whether they migrate, also it isnt known whether they keep the same mate year to year or play the field! We don’t really even know where the young tend to go or what influences their mortality most – I think we need to dedicate more attention to these fascinating and beautiful owls! But what we do know is that our friends the Barred owl and the Spotted owl tend to prey on the poor little Pygmy owl.
Elf Owl
Last but certainly not least we have the star of our show – The Elf Owl. These owls are around the size of a sparrow and about 12-14cm long with a wingspan of 27cm. Not only is the Elf owl little, it also wins as the smallest species of owl because it is the lightest owl in the world weighting around 40g.
The Elf owl can be found in the Southwest of the US, within central Mexico, and the Baja California peninsula.
They have pale yellow eyes, white eyebrows, and a grey beak. They have a round head and no ear-tufts. They are greyish/brown in colour with white scattered throughout.
They nest in abandoned, north facing woodpecker cavities much like the Northern Pygmy owls. They have also been known to nest in man-made structures such as telephone poles as they like a bare cavity. They mate for around 3 months and the male and female sing locational calls to one another as a mating ritual. The clutch size will vary from 1-5 eggs from late March to early May and will be incubated by the female for 24 days. Owlets are born in mid-June or early July and will leave the nest around the end of July.
A fun fact is that the Elf owl will fake its own death when it is handled so the predator will relax their grip and they can escape. They are extremely territorial of their nest and area, and the males are often extremely territorial over their mate and will defend her also. Elf owls are monogamous during mating season but they are quite sociable owls otherwise and will migrate in large groups during winter.
They feed mainly on Moths, Scorpions, Crickets, Centipedes, Beetles, small mammals, reptiles and birds. Elf owls even know how to remove the stinger of the Scorpion before they eat them – crazy right?
They tend to live around 3-6 years in the wild and 10 years in captivity.
Conclusion
Therefore, the answer to the question – What is the smallest species of owl? is the Elf owl! I hope this article was informative. I didn’t want to go too overboard on the general information about each owl but I wanted to introduce these wonderful small owls in enough detail so that they can be appreciated for how wonderful they are!