Pernambuco Pygmy-Owl

The Pernambuco pygmy owl is about 13 cm (5.1 in) long and weighs about 51 g (1.8 oz). The adult's face is a mix of whitish and brownish streaks and the rest of the head is raw umber with small white dots. The upperparts are chestnut and the tail is blackish brown with lines of white spots making broken bars across it. The underparts are white, the sides of the chest brown, and the flanks streaked with brown. The juvenile plumage is unknown. A typical Neotropical pygmy-owl of the Glaucidium minutissimum species complex. It has a light grey-chestnut coloured crown and head speckled with conspicuous white spots on the face and head to the lower nape (Fjeldså and Sharpe 2015). Has a white collar and white underparts streaked with rufous. Back is chestnut. Tail dark with white spots. Similar spp. it differs from its geographically closest relatives in its overall lighter colouration, size and voice. Voice a short phrase of 5-7 notes.

The Pernambuco pygmy owl is found only in a small area of Pernambuco state in northeastern Brazil. It has been observed in the canopy of humid forest near its edge at a maximum elevation of 150 m (490 ft) above sea level.

One Pernambuco pygmy owl was observed eating a large cicada. Nothing else is known about its diet, which is assumed to include other invertebrates, small mammals, and small reptiles.