Elf Owl Colors
The elf owl (Micrathene whitneyi) is a small grayish-brown owl about the size of a sparrow found in the Southwestern United States, central Mexico, and the Baja California peninsula. [3][4] It has pale yellow eyes highlighted by thin white "eyebrows" and a gray bill with a horn. Animal Fact Sheet: Elf Owl Identifying Features Elf Owls do not have "ear tufts" or feathers on the top of their rounded heads.
Their feathers are grayish brown in color. Their eyes are pale yellow and are highlighted by thin white "eyebrows". The bill is gray with a horn-colored tip.
Elf Owl Biology - Owling.com
Elf owls are the smallest owl in the Sonoran Desert. Adaptations Elf Owls, like other owls have excellent. The world's smallest raptor, the diminutive Elf Owl, lives in dry thorn forests, deserts, pine-oak forests, and riparian woodlands of the southern border of the United States and Mexico.
Like many of the songbirds in these habitats, Elf Owls nest in old woodpecker holes and similar cavities, which provide relief from heat, shelter from rain, and protection from predators. At night, Elf Owls. All about the Elf Owl - characteristics, life expectancy, distribution, behavior, diet, predators, interesting facts, and much more.
Elf Owl - eBird
The Elf Owl feeds almost entirely on insects and other invertebrates, which become harder to find in cold weather, so it migrates south into Mexico for the winter. All bird guide text and rangemaps adapted from Lives of North American Birds by Kenn Kaufman© 1996, used by permission of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. The Elf Owl is a tiny, short-tailed owl with a round head and no ear-tufts.
It was originally known as Whitney's Owl. The species name whitneyi is a Latinised word formed from the last name of Josiah Dwight Whitney (1819-1896), a prominent American geologist. The overall colors of the owl seem to be more brownish on the backside and more orangey on the head and streaking on the front side (chest, flanks, and belly).
Elf Owl Biology – Owling.com
White eyebrows and some white in the outer facial disk which is mostly orangey in color. The bill is Grayish. Elf Owls inhabit desert environments, making themselves right at home with sand, Saguaro cacti, and scorpions.
In fact, this tough little owl will actually dine on scorpions once it has carefully removed the stingers. Because of their size, Elf Owls prey almost exclusively on arthropods like scorpions, moths, crickets. One of the smallest owls in the world, about the size of a sparrow.
Patterned with rufous, gray, and white. Most similar in plumage to Flammulated Owl, but note the Elf Owl's white eyebrows, yellow eyes, tiny size, and habitat. Found in brushy woodlands and surrounding desert, where they nest in natural cavities or abandoned woodpecker holes in trees and cacti.
Nocturnal; most easily found by. This is one of only two highly migratory species of owls in North America (the other being the Flammulated Owl) and both are also highly insectivorous. The Elf Owl has a horn color bill with a yellowish tip and edges and lemon yellow iris (eyes).
This owl lacks ear tufts. Length is 5 3/4″ (smaller than a House Finch) and the sexes are alike.
