The Ferruginous Pygmy Owl is Back on the Endangered List

The ferruginous pygmy owl, found in the American Southwest and northern Mexico, once again enjoys the protection of the Endangered Species Act. Last month the US Fish and Wildlife Service restored the status of the little hooters after it lost those protections 17 years ago.

In Arizona and northern Sonora, Mexico, the pygmy owl is threatened by urban sprawl and the spread of invasive buffelgrass, which is squeezing out the columnar cactus and other desert flora in which the owl makes nests. In Texas and Chihuahua, Mexico, agricultural development and human population growth are cutting into the birds’ habitat. 

Droughts and wildfires, exacerbated by climate change, are a threat everywhere. On the US side of the border the pygmy owl numbers in the low hundreds. 

The owl had been protected under the ESA from 1997 to 2006, but developers successfully sued the USFWS to de-list the birds. Subsequent petitions and lawsuits, most prominently by the Center for Biological Diversity, have finally won back the hard-fought protections.

“I’m so glad the pygmy owl is again protected, but it shouldn’t have taken this long or required multiple lawsuits to get here,” said CBI’s endangered species director Noah Greenwald. “The Fish and Wildlife Service is badly broken from years of political interference. It needs new leadership and reform to get the agency back to efficiently protecting species and addressing the extinction crisis.”

Cactus ferruginous pygmy owls (Glaucidium brasilianum cactorum) are reddish brown and cream-colored, about six inches long, and weigh around 2.5 ounces. They are “secondary-cavity nesters,” which means they make their homes in cavities excavated by woodpeckers and other bird species in saguaro cactuses and trees. 

The owls hoot incessantly when establishing a territory or calling to mates. The call: a whistled hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo, usually in E flat.

Photo credit: National Park Service