#flammulated owl

[fullfrontalbirds]

Flammulated Owl (Psiloscops flammeolus)

© Christopher Fleming

[ketrinadrawsalot]

The flammulated owl is the only member of the genus Psiloscops. It has an unusually low-pitched hoot, making it sound larger than it actually is. Since it eats mainly insects, it needs to migrate from its home in North America to Mexico and Central America during the winter.

[pinkydragon01]

I'm getting really tired of seeing posts of people saying "omg look at this cute baby owl 🥰" and then the picture is something like this-

This is not a baby owl.

This is a full grown flammulated owl, one of the smallest species of owl. There's other small species similar to it but my point stands.

THIS is a baby owl- an owlet

This is also a flammulated owl, but much younger and even this picture is not of a fresh hatchling. They are also sometimes referred to as nestlings or fledglings depending on their age. Owls, like most birds, are born naked and ugly. Or cute even, depending on your perspective. Most of the time, they look like fuzzy Muppets that went through a bad trip in the washing machine.

I know it's mostly harmless to look at a tiny owl and think it's a cute baby, but please acknowledge the difference.

I am so exhausted by the misinformation.

[rulers-of-the-sky]

[scottpartridge]

Wishing all a warm and gentle Christmas

[tippett-in-a-robe]

I drew The Flammulated Owl 🦉

[owls-da-wise-guys]

Flammulated Owl

The Flammulated Owl’s husky voice doesn’t quite fit its pint-sized body. It can slow down its vocal vibrations by slackening the layers of skin around its throat, creating a low-pitched hoot. In spring and summer the owl idles in western mountains, feasting on insects. It was once thought not to migrate, but its insectivorous habits and recent studies showing that it’s unable to go into torpor, or mini hibernation, confirm that it travels south in winter.

Size: 6 inches tall; 2 ounces, though females are 50 percent heavier when breeding

Range: Common in summer from southwestern Canada through the western U.S. to Mexico; winter range in Mexico is poorly known

Status: Least Concern

[ainawgsd]

The flammulated owl (Psiloscops flammeolus) is a small, nocturnal owl approximately 6 inches long with a 14 inch wingspan. The owl gets the name flammulated from the flame-like markings on its face. The flammulated owl is similar in appearance to the western screech owl, but is only about one-quarter the mass, lacks large ear tufts (but has small ear tufts that are barely visible), and has dark eyes and a different voice. Unlike many owls, they are migratory, leaving Canada and the United States in the fall.

The flammulated owl breeds from southern British Columbia and the western United States to central Mexico. It is a neotropical migrant and winters south of the United States, but also in South Texas, Arizona, and California. In the winter, they are found in northern Central America, from southern Mexico to Guatemala and El Salvador. They leave their breeding grounds in August to head to their wintering areas, and then return to their breeding grounds in late April and early May.

Males and females can be distinguished by their weight. Females are larger, ranging from 62–65 g and males are smaller ranging from 50–52 g. The call is a series of relatively deep, single or double hoots. Flammulated owls tend to form breeding pairs with unoccupied habitat between breeding clusters. They tend to have one clutch of eggs annually.

The flammulated owl nests in tree cavities and has two to four young at a time after a 26-day incubation period. The young are able to forage for their own prey after about 25–32 days. These owls are obligate cavity nesters, meaning they only create nests in tree cavities. Females usually select cavities that used to be woodpecker or northern flicker nests. Their nests are bare and have no nesting material.

Like other raptors, they can live long and have high nesting success, and during the nesting period, the female owls rely on the males to forage for them. Nesting habitat in the western U.S. and Canada is usually mature, open ponderosa pine and Douglas fir forests. Flammulated owls can also be found breeding in deciduous forests with some conifers present.

They feed almost entirely on insects, but very occasionally eat small mammals such as shrews and other small rodents. The insects they eat mostly consist of small Lepidoptera. They also eat crickets and beetles.