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Colima Pygmy Owl | Glaucidium palmarum
Colimadwerguil | Tecolote colimense
The Colima Pygmy Owl is one of the smallest owls in Mexico and occurs only on the Pacific side of the country, from Sonora to Oaxaca. It was formerly included in the Least Pygmy Owl Glaucidium minutissimum and is now treated as a separate species. It is active mainly at dusk but also by day and is usually detected by its song.
Voice
The song is a series of usually three to six hollow, whistled toots, too-too-too-too, faster and shorter than the long series of the Ferruginous Pygmy Owl, repeated after a pause. It sings mainly at dusk and early in the morning, but also by day.
Recording: Alán Palacios — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · converted to mono · xeno-canto
Identification
13–15 cm, small and compact, with a round head without ear tufts, yellow eyes, short white eyebrows and a fairly long tail. The crown is grey-brown with small pale dots; on the nape two black spots with a pale border act as false eyes. The upperparts are brown, the tail dark with three or four narrow, broken white bars. The underparts are white with rufous streaks on the flanks and brown sides to the breast. Females are often slightly more rufous.
Confusion species
The Ferruginous Pygmy Owl Glaucidium brasilianum occurs in the same region, also in dry forest, but is larger, has fine pale streaks instead of dots on the crown and more tail bars, and sings a long, rapid series of dozens of toots. The Northern Pygmy Owl Glaucidium gnoma lives higher up, in pine-oak forest, and is larger. The Tamaulipas Pygmy Owl Glaucidium sanchezi is very similar to the Colima Pygmy Owl but lives only in northeastern Mexico. The Elf Owl Micrathene whitneyi has a short tail, no false eyes and is active only at night.
Habitat
Tropical dry forest and semi-evergreen forest, gallery forest along rivers and streams, thorn forest and the edges of plantations with trees, from sea level to about 1,500 metres. It hunts from a perch for large insects, lizards and small birds. It nests in tree cavities, often old woodpecker holes.
Where the bird is most at home, classified by the vegetation units of Mexico and Central America.
Range and movements
Endemic to western Mexico: resident on the Pacific side from southern Sonora and southwestern Chihuahua through Sinaloa, Nayarit, Jalisco, Colima, Michoacán and Guerrero into Oaxaca, and inland in the Balsas basin to Morelos and southern Puebla. It does not occur outside the guide area.
- Resident
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
Most often reported in Nayarit, for example in the forest around San Blas, and in the dry forest of Jalisco and Colima. At dusk the short series of toots in dry forest is often the first clue; by day small birds giving loud alarm calls give away where it is perched.
Conservation status
Not threatened. The species is fairly common in much of its range, but Pacific dry forest is being cleared in many places for agriculture, cattle ranching and tourism.
Scientific name
Glaucidium palmarum | Nelson, 1901
Nelson described the species in 1901 and placed it straight away in the genus where it still stands. The genus Glaucidium was introduced in 1826 by Boie. Glaucidium is Greek glaukidion 'little owl' or 'owlet', a diminutive of glaux 'owl'. palmarum is Latin for 'of the palms', after the palm groves of western Mexico where the species lives. The specimen the first description was based on came from Arroyo de Juan Sánchez, Nayarit, Mexico.