Cactus Ferruginous Pygmy Owl Doc

Standing at just six and a half inches in height, Glaucidium brasilianum cactorum, the cactus ferruginous pygmy owl, is a small but fascinating part of the wildlife of the Southwest.  Although it is unheard of in the Eastern hemisphere, this little bird can be found from Arizona all the way down to South America, with populations being split between an Eastern subspecies (found in southern Texas and throughout Mexico), a Western subspecies (which can be found from Southern Arizona down into Mexico), and several other subspecies native only to South America. Belonging to the Strigidae (owl) family of the Animal kingdom, the Pygmy Owl prefers desert habitats, taking up residence in nests burrowed out of cacti.  Subsisting on a diet of small lizards and rodents, insects, and even other birds, the pygmy owl hunts in the daylight, a surprise to individuals who typically picture owls as strictly nocturnal creatures. In fact, it is the pygmy owl's hunting prowess that makes it a potentially useful tool for population control of other bird species: Despite its size, the pygmy owl is an incredibly adept and dangerous predator, and is capable of easily killing birds twice its size. The pygmy owl is an incredibly adaptive species, and can be found thriving in large spanses of barren desert in which little other life has been able to survive.

Over the past two decades, the pygmy owl has been the subject of much debate regarding its status, going back to population threats at the hands of global warming.  Westward-expansion era America saw the sowing of large quantities of buffel grass in regions native to the pygmy owl. The vast expanses of grass upset the desert climates, which were the home to naturally occurring, sparse patches of grass, which served to contain brush fires. The combination of covering the deserts in buffel grass and global warming has led to destructive fires breaking out in the owl's habitat, as the dry climate leads to the grass easily catching fire. This has led to the pygmy owl being listed as a threatened species in Texas, though its national status has fluctuated throughout the 1990s and the 2000s. At one point listed as endangered, the status was revoked following a schism between factions in the  US Fish and Wildlife Service, who disputed the extent to which the owls' habitat was being threatened by development and global warming. Though it is currently an officially "unthreatened" animal with low concern, an ongoing legal battle is being waged to relist the pygmy owl as endangered.

Sources

http://www.hcn.org/external_files/allimages/2003/oct13/graphics/031013-012.jpg

http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:mcegHCzoldoJ:ecos.fws.gov/species_profile/SpeciesProfile%3Fspcode%3DB08N+domain+kingdom+ferruginous+pygmy+owl&cd=3&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&source=www.google.com

http://www.wildsonora.com/ws/content/cactus-ferruginous-pygmy-owl-glaucidium-brasilianum-cactorum

http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/huntwild/wild/species/endang/animals/birds/index.phtml

http://www.defenders.org/wildlife_and_habitat/wildlife/cactus_ferruginous_pygmy_owl.php

http://www.defenders.org/programs_and_policy/wildlife_conservation/imperiled_species/cactus_ferriginous_pygmy-owl/court_battle_over_the_pygmy-owl_a_timeline.php

http://www.blueplanetbiomes.org/cactus_ferrug_pygmy_owl.htm