If you’re as addicted to TikTok as we are, then you may well have recently seen a video of a teeny tiny owl serving absolute face. “Hoo” is this diva? It’s none other than the elf owl, the smallest owl in the world.
Little raptors
When it comes to their size, elf owls live up to the diminutive stature of their fictional namesakes (at least if we discount Tolkien’s elves). As adults, they stand at just 12.4 to 14.2 centimeters (4.9 to 5.6 inches) tall, smaller than your average American pint glass. A lack of ear tufts and a short tail also help keep them on the compact side.
They do, however, have noticeably large, yellow irises, surrounded by a black ring that puts any human attempt at eyeliner to shame. Their eyes stick out in contrast with the rest of their body, which consists of mottled gray, white, and brown feathers, and a small greenish-yellow beak.
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Bro is definitely getting pulled over with pupils like that.
Where do elf owls live?
Elf owls can be found year-round in some parts of Mexico, larger portions of the country when migrating, and during the summer breeding season, can even be spotted as far north as the US border states.
They live in a wide range of habitats in these places, from deserts and dry thorn woodlands to pine-oak and riparian forests. There, they like to nest in holes in cacti and trees, such as those made and then abandoned by woodpeckers.
Scorpions for supper
So far, elf owls seem positively adorable, all tiny, big-eyed, and cozied up in their holey nests – the call of the males even sounds a bit like the squeaky bark of a young puppy. However, it’s at nighttime when they prove that their smarts as predators are just as prominent as their cuteness.
Though they’re more than capable of snacking on a mouse, elf owls primarily feed on insects and arthropods, and do so with skill; they’re known to catch bugs such as moths and beetles in flight or when scurrying on the ground. They even pull a Spider-Man and hang upside down in plants, although the part where they proceed to beat the insects out from the foliage is perhaps not quite so much “friendly neighborhood superhero”.
Elf owls also have a discriminating eye when it comes to some of their more dangerous cuisine. Before chowing down on a wasp or scorpion, they’ll first spend time with their feet and beak deftly plucking out wings and stingers, preferring not to eat those parts.
Not everything they catch ends up as food, however – sometimes prey makes a handy pest removal service. That’s what elf owls do with thread snakes, which they scoop up and take back to the nest, where the snakes gobble up pesky parasites.
Small and resourceful, we love to see it.
