Air Date: Week of March 27, 2026

Elf owls are the smallest known species of owl. (Photo: Bettina Arrigoni, Flickr, CC BY 2.0)

At just six inches tall, the desert-dwelling Elf Owl is the smallest known species of owl in the world. As BirdNote®’s Michael Stein reports, despite its tiny stature the Elf Owl is a fierce predator of crickets, scorpions, and mice.

Transcript

DOERING: It’s Living on Earth, I’m Jenni Doering.

CURWOOD: And I’m Steve Curwood.

[BIRDNOTE THEME]

CURWOOD: Here in North America the spring migration is in full swing, as birds big and small return to breeding and nesting grounds. BirdNote®’s Michael Stein shares a glimpse of a pint-sized traveler that just came back to the Southwestern U.S.
BirdNote®
Meet the Tiniest Owl in the World
Written by Bob Sundstrom
This is BirdNote.
[Elf Owl song]
As twilight deepens along a dry desert stream bed, a tiny owl peers out from a hole in a sycamore tree. It’s an Elf Owl, the smallest species of owl in the world.
[Elf Owl song]
Standing less than six inches tall, with gray feathers and big yellow eyes, the Elf Owl weighs less than an ounce and a half — a bit less than a golf ball.
[Elf Owl song]
And they’re determined predators. Flying out from its tree cavity at dusk, the Elf Owl hunts beetles, crickets and spiders, plus the odd lizard or mouse. Larger prey such as scorpions — with the stingers carefully removed — may end up cached in the nest for later dining.
[Elf Owl song]

Elf Owls live in woodlands and desert cactus habitats in northwest Mexico and along the border of the southwest U.S. They often nest in woodpecker holes in tall saguaro cactus. They depart their breeding range by October to central and southern Mexico, where insects are more available in winter. But spring comes early to the desert, and the minuscule owls return by late February or March, ready to begin their breeding season.
[Elf Owl song]
I’m Michael Stein.
###
Senior Producer: Mark Bramhill
Producer: Sam Johnson
Managing Editor: Jazzi Johnson
Content Director: Jonese Franklin
Bird sounds provided by The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. Elf Owl ML105533 recorded by Geoffrey A. Keller, and Elf Owl ML 188270 recorded by Bob McGuire.
BirdNote’s theme was composed and played by Nancy Rumbel and John Kessler.
© 2025 BirdNote March 2025
Narrator: Michael Stein
ID# ELOW-01b-2017-03-14 ELOW-01b

Good source: http://www.audubon.org/field-guide/bird/elf-owl
CURWOOD: For pictures, flit on over to the Living on Earth website, loe dot org.

 

Links

Listen to this story on the BirdNote ® website.