Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl

About the Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl

The ferruginous pygmy owl (Glaucidium brasilianum) is a species of small owl found in the southwestern United States, extending south through Mexico, Central America, and into South America, including countries like Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay and Argentina.

It is the most widely distributed species of pygmy owl in Central and South America and is believed to be one of the most common owls in these regions, where it lives in a variety of semi-open wooded habitats. The ferruginous pygmy owl was formally described in 1788 by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in his revised and expanded edition of Carl Linnaeus's Systema Naturae. The species was originally assigned the binomial name Strix brasiliana, grouping it with other owls under the genus Strix. Although Gmelin did not directly cite it, his original description ultimately derived from the "Caburé", a small owl documented in 1648 by German naturalist Georg Marcgrave in his work Historia Naturalis Brasiliae. The ferruginous pygmy owl is currently classified alongside 28 other small owls in the genus Glaucidium, introduced in 1826 by German zoologist Friedrich Boie. The genus name derives from the Ancient Greek... Wikipedia →