James Newman
Member
First things first...hello good people. It has been awhile since my last posting as things here have been extremely busy. The job is going great but the really good news is that my wife is now here in Tucson with me permanently. I went and picked her and our dogs up, had all of our household goods loaded on a big rig, then turned around and left Houston once again for the 1100 mile drive back to Tucson. Our house has still not sold yet but that will come soon. My wife has already found her a new job after only being here one week and she starts it next Tuesday. That was a spectacular achievement. Things are really falling into place.
This little guy, and I do mean little, is an endangered Ferruginous Pygmy Owl (I believe) that has taken up roost in a pot out on the patio. He is only about 6 inches tall and, according to the literature, probably weighs about 2 and a half ounces. He is very tiny. He can catch and eat mourning doves that are over twice his size. He goes down inside the pot I suppose trying to catch some sleep during the day. Everytime I open the back door he pops out of the pot and sits as you see in these pics. I was able to get within 3 or 4 feet to shoot and he did not even seem to care at all.
I am pretty sure it is a Ferruginous but to be 100% certain I will have to wait and get a better look at his tail barrings. If they are brown and black, he is Ferruginous. If the barrings are white, he is the Northern Pygmy Owl instead. This I will find out for certain as soon as he lets me. For now I am just enjoying getting to watch him from so close a distance. Things here seem to let you get right up close and personal, even if you might not want to. The habitats of these two different species of pygmy owls actually overlap right here in this area of Tucson. They used to be much more numerous and a more common sight but because of our need to expand and develop haphazardly and take over the habitats of other things, these little guys are getting very scarce. For awhile there were none to be seen anywhere and it was thought that perhaps we had erradicated them completely from the face of the earth. Thank goodness that is not the case. It is a wonderful little bird of prey.
James Newman
This little guy, and I do mean little, is an endangered Ferruginous Pygmy Owl (I believe) that has taken up roost in a pot out on the patio. He is only about 6 inches tall and, according to the literature, probably weighs about 2 and a half ounces. He is very tiny. He can catch and eat mourning doves that are over twice his size. He goes down inside the pot I suppose trying to catch some sleep during the day. Everytime I open the back door he pops out of the pot and sits as you see in these pics. I was able to get within 3 or 4 feet to shoot and he did not even seem to care at all.
I am pretty sure it is a Ferruginous but to be 100% certain I will have to wait and get a better look at his tail barrings. If they are brown and black, he is Ferruginous. If the barrings are white, he is the Northern Pygmy Owl instead. This I will find out for certain as soon as he lets me. For now I am just enjoying getting to watch him from so close a distance. Things here seem to let you get right up close and personal, even if you might not want to. The habitats of these two different species of pygmy owls actually overlap right here in this area of Tucson. They used to be much more numerous and a more common sight but because of our need to expand and develop haphazardly and take over the habitats of other things, these little guys are getting very scarce. For awhile there were none to be seen anywhere and it was thought that perhaps we had erradicated them completely from the face of the earth. Thank goodness that is not the case. It is a wonderful little bird of prey.
James Newman
