The Tamaulipas pygmy owl (''Glaucidium sanchezi'') is a species of owl in the family

Strigidae The true owls or typical owls (family (biology), family Strigidae) are one of the two generally accepted families of owls, the other being the barn owls and bay owls (Tytonidae). This large family comprises 230 living or recently extinct species ...

. It is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

. This is one of the smallest owls in the world, with a mean length of . However, at , it is slightly heavier than the long-whiskered owlet and the elf owl. Its natural

habitat In ecology, habitat refers to the array of resources, biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species' habitat can be seen as the physical manifestation of its ...

subtropical The subtropical zones or subtropics are geographical zone, geographical and Köppen climate classification, climate zones immediately to the Northern Hemisphere, north and Southern Hemisphere, south of the tropics. Geographically part of the Ge ...

tropical The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the equator, where the sun may shine directly overhead. This contrasts with the temperate or polar regions of Earth, where the Sun can never be directly overhead. This is because of Earth's ax ...

moist

montane forest Montane ecosystems are found on the slopes of mountains. The alpine climate in these regions strongly affects the ecosystem because temperatures lapse rate, fall as elevation increases, causing the ecosystem to stratify. This stratification is ...

Description

The adult Tamaulipas pygmy owl has a length of between with a relatively long tail of between . Their average weight is , the male generally being lighter than the female. The male has a brownish facial disc flecked with white and short white eyebrows. The upper parts are olive-brown, with a greyer crown and fine white speckling at the front and sides of the crown. The main wing and tail feathers are barred in white. The underparts are whitish with some reddish-brown streaking and mottling. The legs are feathered, the bill is yellowish-brown and the eyes are yellow. The female is similar but has an overall more reddish-brown appearance.

Distribution

The Tamaulipas pygmy owl is

to Mexico where it is only found in the mountains of northeastern Mexico, in the northern part of the state of Hidalgo and the southeastern part of the state of

San Luis Potosí San Luis Potosí, officially the Free and Sovereign State of San Luis Potosí, is one of the 32 states which compose the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 59 municipalities and is named after its capital city, San Luis Potosí. It ...

. Its

is moist evergreen forest, montane forest and cloud forest at altitudes between about .

Ecology

This owl is partly diurnal and feeds on insects and small vertebrates such as

lizard Lizard is the common name used for all Squamata, squamate reptiles other than snakes (and to a lesser extent amphisbaenians), encompassing over 7,000 species, ranging across all continents except Antarctica, as well as most Island#Oceanic isla ...

s. Little is known of its breeding habits but it generally chooses a hole in a tree previously used by a

woodpecker Woodpeckers are part of the bird family (biology), family Picidae, which also includes the piculets, wrynecks and sapsuckers. Members of this family are found worldwide, except for Australia, New Guinea, New Zealand, Madagascar and the extreme ...

. A clutch of up to four white eggs is laid and the young are able to fly soon after they emerge from the nest.

Status

At one time the

International Union for Conservation of Nature The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Founded in 1948, IUCN has become the global authority on the stat ...

rated the conservation status of the Tamaulipas pygmy owl as "

least concern A least-concern species is a species that has been evaluated and categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as not being a focus of wildlife conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wil ...

" but this has now been changed to "

near-threatened A near-threatened species is a species which has been categorized as "Near Threatened" (NT) by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as that may be vulnerable to endangerment in the near future, but it does not currently qu ...

". The forests in which this owl lives are being logged and the bird's range is now thought to be smaller than it was in the past. The population is also thought to be declining and is estimated to be fewer than 50,000 birds.

References

External links

Tamaulipas pygmy owl videos
on the Internet Bird Collection

VIREO * ttps://web.archive.org/web/20070926231608/http://borderland-tours.com/v2/images/stories/borderland/photo/tamaulipas_pygmy-owl.jpg Photo-High Resbr>Article
borderland-tours {{Taxonbar, from=Q1269231 Glaucidium (owl) Owl, Tamaulipas Pygmy Birds described in 1949 Taxonomy articles created by Polbot Birds of the Sierra Madre Oriental