Watching and Waiting

Silence. Listening. Surveying the tree tops: a cone, an old wasp nest, a clump of leaves. And then there! Atop the dead top of a lodgepole pine – a Pygmy Owl!

Spotting a Pygmy Owl is a very special moment for me. Tiny owls (about the size of a tennis ball with a tail), Pygmy Owls hunt for small mammals and birds – sometimes taking prey as large as themselves. I have watched as one of these tiny owls dove and then flew away over the grasslands with a vole at least as heavy as itself. Wagging it’s tail (holding it upright) and erecting its “ears” just before diving – its behaviour reminded me of a cat watching birds. They do not normally have ear tufts like some other owls but as the photo below shows, they can erect their feathers on their head to resemble ear tufts.

And – Pygmy Owls have “eyes” on the back of their head! Do the spots startle overhead hunters that eat Pygmy Owls? Do they keep the small birds that mob Pygmy Owls at bay? Are the eyes a message to other Pygmy Owls?

I recently watched a Pygmy Owl perched high in a tree staring at the bushes below. There was a small flock of Mountain Chickadees, Chestnut-back Chickadees and Golden-crowned Kinglets in those bushes. Amazingly enough, two of the Mountain Chickadees flew up to within a meter of the owl. The owl watched, the chickadees watched, and then the chickadees flew back down into the bushes.

Perhaps this flock was too well protected by the branches of the bushes for the owl to dive into the bushes and take a bird, or maybe it was just being patient and waiting for the right moment.

A raven flew in shortly afterwards and the little owl dove into the surrounding trees. Pygmy Owls fly well over distances but this was a dive into the nearest trees. Ravens might very well snatch a small owl in a tree, and that owl was taking no chances! The small flock of birds carried on feeding in the bushes.

Watching and waiting can carry great rewards – both for Pygmy Owls and for anyone curious enough to watch them.

All photos, videos and text copyright J.A. Siderius 2025. Just ask if you want to use the post.