ABOUT NORTHERN PYGMY OWLS
Northern Pygmy Owls are hardly taller than a pencil and look like adorable fluff balls, but don't let these looks fool you - they are fierce predators who are willingly take prey up to three-times their size! One report states a Northern Pygmy-Owl even killed a grown chicken. When hunting, this owl usually pins the animal to the ground and rips it apart with its sharp beak and talons. Biologists have noted instances of Northern Pygmy-Owls carrying animals that weigh more than 70% of their own body weight during flight.
This small owl is actually quite unlike most owls. It lacks the asymmetrical ear openings that aid other owls in nighttime hunting. Additionally, they lack a facial disk, which, in other species, acts like a TV dish, directing sounds towards the owl’s ears. Why doesn’t the Northern Pygmy-Owl exhibit these helpful adaptations? Because they don’t need them! While most owls are nocturnal, this species is primarily diurnal, meaning it is typically most active during daytime. These owls probably don’t need special hearing features, as daylight hunting requires more vision capabilities than auditory ones.
© KURT LINDSAY
© DANIEL J COX/NATURAL EXPOSURES.COM
ABOUT YOUR SYMBOLIC ADOPTION
Your Northern Pygmy Owl adoption helps ensure that our research on these owls continues. At the Owl Research Institute, we know that conservation efforts begin with reliable data. We provide this data and work hard to ensure that it gets to the right decision makers.
Our Northern Pygmy Owl study is conducted out of many different study sites in western Montana. Travel to and from our sites, equipment, manpower, and data management are all costs associated with the Northern Pygmy Owl study.
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Your adoption helps cover these necessary costs and ensure that our study continues - working to protect this incredible species.
HOW NORTHERN PYGMY OWL ADOPTION WORKS
As a non-profit, we designed our adoption program to help fund research and conservation around specific species. Follow-up information about our Pygmy Owl research can be found in our annual newsletter, The Roost, which comes out annually between Thanksgiving and Christmas. If you would like to receive a copy, let us know HERE >>.
All of our research is conducted on wild owls in their natural habitat. We keep no owls at the Owl Research Institute and are not a rehabilitation center. We are a field-based research institute with an emphasis on conservation and education.
We are enormously grateful to those who make the decision to support our work. The symbolic adoption program is a new and unique way to donate to the Owl Research Institute and ensure that research on Northern Pygmy Owls continues.
© KURT LINDSAY
ORI'S NORTHERN PYGMY OWL RESEARCH
Although our breeding season study of Northern Pygmy Owls began in 1981, it was not officially organized until 1985. Since then we have focused our research efforts on finding and monitoring natural nest-sites in western Montana, which can be a difficult task. To date we have documented 35 natural nest-sites and are in the process of analyzing and writing up our research results, which we believe will have important implications for forest management snag retention policies.
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Northern Pygmy Owls are associated with a wide variety of coniferous and deciduous forest habitats in western North America. They can occur from near tree line to river bottoms. It was once believed that all owl species hatch their eggs asynchronously (in the order laid). However, some studies suggested Pygmy Owls may hatch eggs synchronously, or nearly so. We have documented novel observations of egg laying and incubation, nestling growth and development, and fledging which provide important information about their life histories.
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The Northern Pygmy Owl is listed as Sensitive by the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes Wildlife Management Program (D Becker, pers. comm.).
© KURT LINDSAY