Something there is that does not like a Border Wall
January 19, 2025



Heads up, gossip hounds. My species won big this year at the North American Owl Awards at Tufts University. We Ferruginous Pygmy Owls took home the Golden Owl Pellet for the Owl Most Threatened by the Border Wall! You should check out my controversial acceptance speech. I let Congress have it for approving such an abomination in the first place!

Listen to the North American Owl Awards ceremony, live from Zimman Field at Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts!

Tiny Owl, Tiny Territory
December 8, 2024



Why, bless my heart, we Ferruginous Pygmy Owls are hardly in the United States at all.

Oh, hi there, folks. Take a look at this habitat map with me, would you? Just look at that¹. We Ferruginous Pygmy Owls positively rule south of the border. We're all over the place, from Mexico through Central America and down into South America as far as Bolivia and Argentina.

And yet check out the meager bit of territory that we control in the USA. It's nothing at all. Our North American homeland is limited to two tiny outposts in the tippy-tippy southernmost portions of the states of Texas and Arizona.

And it seems like you Statesiders are trying to kick us out of there, as well. I mean, what's the big idea of building a 30-foot Border Wall that separates us from our kind down south²? Do you think I'm going to fly over that? That's just not how we operate. In the words of the Jungle Dragon website:

"The flight is low to the ground and rapid with long swoop.³"

In other words, I'm a swooper, not a pole-vaulter. The wall may as well be a mile high, as far as we Ferruginous Pygmy Owls are concerned. How am I going to find a decent mate when you've cordoned me off like this in such a limited territory?

But where are my manners? Pygmy Pete at your service, the Ferruginous Pygmy Owl, known scientifically as Glaucidium brasilianum.

I really just wanted to welcome you to my new blog, where I will be giving you detailed information about Ferruginous Pygmy Owls over the course of time. Unfortunately, I saw this map just before we "went live" and it knocked me off my talons. I mean, a cousin of mine called the Northern Pygmy Owl has year-round territory extending from Mexico to the northernmost part of British Columbia⁴, and here am I with just this little niche near the Mexican border. It's embarrassing.

By rights, I should have given you some species stats by now. But as your poet Shakespeare once said, "Omittance is no quittance," so stay tuned, all right? Did you know, for instance, that I'm a rust-colored owl⁵ the size of a sparrow⁶? And that my singing sessions can last as long as five hours⁷?

But time's up for now, I've gotta fly -- or swoop, rather.

If you're ever in extreme southeastern Arizona, keep your ears open for those song sessions of mine. They're absolutely free to hear in the wild, no advertisements whatsoever... which is more than I can say for the online world.

Just remember, though, that if you spy a tiny owl residing in a cactus cavity in southern Arizona or Texas, it may or may not be yours truly. Both my territory and my species specs overlap with those of the Elf Owl. So stay tuned to this blog to learn how to tell us apart.

Hint: You might start by listening to our various calls. They say that the Elf Owl sounds like a yipping puppy⁸, whereas my main calls have been characterized as repetitive whistles.⁹.

But judge for yourself:

For Elf Owl Sounds, click here.
For Ferruginous Pygmy Owl Sounds, click here.

Now, forgive me while I get back to this habitat map. I just can't believe how small my territory is here in the States!

Editor's Note: Excellent introductory spiel, Pygmy Pete! I have just a couple of additional factoids for our reader: 1) Although "Ferruginous" actually means rust-colored, the feather colors of the Ferruginous Pygmy Owl can range widely. As Wikipedia reports:

"Its overall color is highly variable, ranging from grey-brown with a black-and-white barred tail to rich rufous with a uniform rufous tail.¹⁰"

2) You will occasionally see references to the "Cactus Ferruginous Pygmy Owl." This designation pertains to a subspecies of the owl found in Arizona¹¹.







1: Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl Range Map, Cornell Lab: All About Birds
2: Why the Border Wall Is a Problem For Birds, Despite Their Wings, Audubon
3: Ferruginous Pygmy Owl, Jungle Dragon
4: Northern Pygmy-Owl Range Map, Cornell Lab: All About Birds
5: Cactus Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl, Phoenix Zoo: Arizona Center for Nature Conservation
6: Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl, Audubon
7: Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl Sounds, Cornell Lab: All About Birds
8: Elf Owl - Song, Bird-Sounds.net
9: Ferruginous Pygmy Owl: Birdwatcher, Costa Rica Focus
10: Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl, Wikipedia
11: Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl, American Bird Conservancy