Birds of the Atlantic Forest
Ferruginous pygmy-owl
Glaucidium brasilianumCaburé
The whole forest knows where it is. Except you.
- Habitat
- Open woodland and its edges, second growth, and the trees of towns.
- Season
- Resident year-round. Active by day as well.
- Size
- 15 to 19 cm · 60 to 75 g
- We look for it on
- Through the Lens
The eyes are yellow and fixed, and they are the first thing you find. The crown carries the finest white streaking — streaks, not spots — and on the nape there are two black marks that look like another pair of eyes: the false eyes, looking backwards. Some birds are cinnamon and others greyish; it is the same species in two versions.
It is an owl that hunts by day, and that changes everything. It eats insects, rodents, reptiles and birds smaller than itself, and the birds know it: when it perches, the understory flocks throw themselves at it, shouting, to give it away. That racket is the best way to find it. The other is its whistle, repeated with the insistence of a clock.
What it sounds like
Chuip · chuip · chuip · chuip
A short whistle, repeated with the insistence of a clock for whole minutes. It is what gives it away most often, even at midday.
Where we look for it
Through the Lens
Birding outings at first light and after dark, in the locations the birder chooses.
Photo: Marcelo de Oliveira Monteiro · CC0 · Wikimedia Commons
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