Northern Saw-Whet Owl Home Page, featuring Sawyer

Sawyer, the Northern Saw-Whet Owl

Northern Saw Whet Owl perched on tree branch

photo credit: iculizard

Cute as an Award-Winning Button
January 20, 2025

It's official. I am the cutest owl in North America! Yes, folks, I won the Golden Owl Pellet for Cutest Owl at the North American Owl Awards 2025! I beat out both the Elf Owl and the Northern Pygmy Owl in that coveted category.

If you're wondering just HOW cute we Northern Saw-Whet Owls are, check out this video.¹ The Saw-Whet in this short flick looks just as lovey-dovey as any cat ever looked. In fact, if you ask me, we Saw-Whet Owls look even lovey-dovier than cats. That's a word, isn't it? Lovey-dovier?

I have got to be careful, though. I don't want this Golden Owl Pellet Award to go to my head, especially since your ornithologists tell me that my head is already "oversized."² Speaking of which, I wonder why your ornithologists can't keep a civil tongue in their heads. You don't hear us Saw Whet-Owls cracking wise about the personal appearance of your ornithologists. Humph!

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

1: Cutest Owl in the World, YouTube
2: Northern Saw-whet Owl Identification, Cornell Lab: All About Birds

I, Saw-Whet
December 13, 2024

Oh, hi there, folks.

They say that my species, Aegolius acadicus, was given the common name of "Saw Whet Owl" because of our species calls. They say that they sound like the whetting of a saw blade on a whetstone¹. But personally I hear no such thing. Some say that it is our alarm calls in particular which evoke that sound², but to me such calls sound more like the melodramatic screeching of Minnie Mouse in a cartoon feature. But I'm trying to keep an open mind, folks. I'll keep listening to recordings of our species calls in the hopes of hearing one that would let me sign off on the prevailing theory with a good conscience.

Then again, maybe I should start listening to recordings of saws being sharpened on a whetstone. It's not like one hears such things every day of their life, with the possible exception of lumberjacks or employees in a jigsaw puzzle factory.

For now, let's put it this way: If certain calls of my species sound like a saw being whetted, then so do certain calls of the Elf Owl³ and the Ferruginous Pygmy Owl⁴. And no one's calling THEM Saw-Whet Owls.

No, I rather fancy that the name "Saw-Whet" comes instead from the French word for owl, which is "chouette.⁵" Not only does that word sound like "saw whet," but my species was "discovered" in Nova Scotia⁶, where, to this day, the Acadian community speaks French⁷. And what is our species name, after all? That's right: Aegolius ACADICUS, and that latter species name means "from Acadia," of course.

Besides, the French word "chouette" is also slang for "cool," as in neat-o⁸! Perhaps that was the first word that was uttered by the guy or gal when he or she first "discovered" us up there in Nova Scotia: "Chouette!" as in "Cool!" We are rather striking-looking owls, after all.

But then I have no axe to grind on this topic... nor any saw to whet, for that matter.

Besides, you came here to read fun facts, right, not theories? Well then, brains in the full upright position, as I count down five fun facts about yours truly. But first, the obligatory species description:

I am a small owl, the size of a sparrow, with reddish-brown feathers, a somewhat flat-looking head, and white spots on my wings. I have big yellow eyes set off by white feathers that look like big, bushy eyebrows, and my belly is a sort of tawny orange. ⁹ ¹⁰ ¹¹ My typical call is a sort of "too-too-too," which I'm told resembles the sound that your commercial vehicles emit when moving backwards. But don't take my word for it. Listen to these Saw-Whet Owl calls on the Audubon website ¹².

Fun Facts about Northern Saw-Whet Owls

1) The coloration of an immature Saw Whet Owl is markedly different from that of the adult owls described above. The breast feathers are a sort of Atomic Tangerine¹³ in hue. This contrasts comically with the uniformly brown head of such fledglings. Even I can't help laughing when I see a picture of myself as an owlet. Ha ha! Here, check it out for yourself. Here is a photograph of a trio of immature Northern Saw Whet Owls posted on the website of the Buffalo Bill Center of the West.¹⁴

2) The Northern Saw-Whet Owl is clearly the cutest owl in North America, judging by the frequent occurrence of the word "cute" in the websites devoted to my species. You'd think that the Elf Owl might be cuter on account of it being even smaller than yours truly, but not a bit of it. That latter bird looks stern and prosaic, if you ask me, whereas the Cornell Labs website describes ME as "bursting with attitude.¹⁵" Ha! Although, to be fair, they do add the following caveat:

"Where mice and other small mammals are concerned this fierce, silent owl is anything but cute.¹⁶"

Okay, fair cop. I am dead serious when it comes to hunting rodents, especially deer mice¹⁷. In the words of the feline Mr. Jinks of cartoon fame: "I love them meeces to pieces.¹⁸" TWO pieces, to be exact. I generally make TWO separate meals out of a single mouse¹⁹. (I know what you're thinking: TMI, right? Too Much Information!)

3) We are one of the most common owls in North America -- common, mind, not commonplace. We can be found in Canada, the western and northern United States²⁰, and even in the east, in some of the higher locations of the Allegheny Plateau²¹ and the Appalachian Mountain range²².

4) We're dashed difficult to actually find. But then what do you expect considering that we're only 8 inches in length²³? Besides, we sleep next to a tree trunk during the day inside the dense cover provided by conifers, vines and brambles²⁴. No wonder we're hard to find. But here are some tips from the Audubon website on how to track down a Saw-Whet Owl, even in cities and suburbs.²⁵!

5) The Northern Saw-Whet Owl has been memorialized in the tune "Unbroken Chain" by the Grateful Dead:

"Lilac rain, unbroken chain,

Song of the Saw-Whet Owl,

Out on the mountain,

It'll drive you insane,

Listening to the winds howl²⁶"

Before you go: do you like bloopers? Well then, check this out:

The Animal Spot website states the following in its introduction to yours truly, Aegolius acadicus:

"This species is common in various zoos from around the world, and are often seen sharing friendly terms with humans.²⁷"

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