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Costa Rican Pygmy Owl | Glaucidium costaricanum
Costaricaanse dwerguil | Mochuelo costarricense
The Costa Rican Pygmy Owl is a small pygmy owl found only in the mountains of Costa Rica and western Panama. It was formerly treated as a subspecies of the Andean Pygmy Owl Glaucidium jardinii. It is active by day and at dusk and often stays high in the canopy, but also comes low along forest edges and into pastures with scattered trees.
Voice
The song is a long series of hollow, whistled toots, often paired, toot-toot toot-toot toot-toot, lasting longer than that of the Central American Pygmy Owl. Also higher, chattering calls. Sings by day as well.
Recording: GABRIEL LEITE — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · shortened to the first 60 s, mono · xeno-canto
Identification
15–16 cm, with a round head without ear tufts, yellow eyes and a fairly long tail. There is a dark brown and a rufous morph. The crown is densely marked with small pale dots; the nape bears false eyes. The upperparts are brown with pale spots on the wing; the tail is dark with narrow white bars. The underparts are white, with broad brown or rufous breast sides and spots and streaks on the flanks.
Confusion species
The Central American Pygmy Owl Glaucidium griseiceps lives in the lowlands and on the lower slopes, has a grey head with fine white dots and only two or three broken white bars in the tail. The Ferruginous Pygmy Owl Glaucidium brasilianum lives in the dry Pacific lowlands and has a finely streaked rather than dotted crown. The Unspotted Saw-whet Owl Aegolius ridgwayi of the same montane forest has a short tail, no false eyes and plain buff underparts.
Habitat
Humid montane forest, cloud forest and oak forest, also forest edges, clearings and pastures with scattered trees; usually between about 900 and 3000 m, most often above 1500 m. It nests in woodpecker holes. It hunts small birds, lizards, mice and large insects.
Where the bird is most at home, classified by the vegetation units of Mexico and Central America.
Range and movements
Resident in the mountains of Costa Rica, from the volcanoes of the Cordillera de Guanacaste and the Cordillera de Tilarán through the Cordillera Central to the Cordillera de Talamanca, and in western Panama in Chiriquí, Bocas del Toro and the Ngäbe-Buglé comarca. Does not occur outside the guide area.
- Resident
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
The species is seen regularly in the mountains around San Gerardo de Dota and along the Cerro de la Muerte in Costa Rica and in the highlands around Boquete and Cerro Punta in Chiriquí. A group of small birds giving alarm calls, such as hummingbirds and flycatchers, often gives away a pygmy owl.
Conservation status
Not threatened. The range is small, but lies largely in protected montane forest.
Scientific name
Glaucidium costaricanum | Kelso, 1937
Kelso described the species in 1937 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'. costaricanum means 'of Costa Rica', where the species was described. The specimen the first description was based on came from Costa Rica.