184. Northern Pygmy-Owl

At dawn this morning the first bird noise I heard was the distinctive "toot, toot, toot" call of a Northern Pygmy-Owl. While Northern Pygmy-Owls ( Glaucidium gnoma swarthi ) have bred not far from us, all of our records are from the fall (late August to October).  We suspect this is because there is a largely undetected post-breeding movement of these tiny owls away from breeding locations.  Unlike most owls, Pgymy-Owls are often daytime active. It is a combination of hearing the birds and finding them as they are being mobbed by songbirds that leads to most of our detections.  Agitated small birds  are almost always a sign that something interesting is going on at Leaning Oaks. 

This subspecies of Northern Pygmy-Owl is endemic to Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands. 

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