ELF OWL DESCRIPTION The Elf Owl is the smallest of all the owls in North America.  It’s only 13-15 cm long.  It has a wingspan of
38 cm and a really short tail.  It has spots of puff or white dapple.  This owl has brown plumage and brown streaks on its breast.  It has white eyebrows arched above its’ yellow eyes and its’ round head has no ear tufts.  Ventrally, they are grayish with gray to cinnamon brown streaks and they have a greenish yellow bill. click here to see a picture  

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THE VOICE OF THE ELF OWL

The Elf Owl has a high-pitched squeaky whistle he/she calls
rapidly chee, chee, chee chee… click here to hear their call  

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ELF OWL HABITAT The Elf Owl lives in arid deserts that are overgrown with cacti. They like to live at elevations of 2,000 and 7,200 feet.  They are most abundant in deserts, but can also be found in woody habitats, except for pine forests.  They live in ravines, canyons, plateaus, and on mountain slopes. 

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NESTING HABITS OF THE ELF OWL

Elf Owls nest in natural tree cavities and abandoned woodpecker holes, in giant cacti, oak trees, and sycamores.   The nests are about 15 to 35 feet from the ground.  The female Elf Owl will lay 2 to 4 white eggs.  It takes about 24 days to hatch and 28 to 33 days to fledging. 

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RANGE OF THE ELF OWL

The Elf Owl can be found in southern Arizona, southern New Mexico, and southern Texas.  It is very rare in southeastern California.  In the winter, it migrates to Mexico. click here to see a map  

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SPECIAL FEATURES
INTERESTING BEHAVIORS OF THE ELF OWL

The Elf Owl will spend most its day hiding in a hole or dense leaves. They come out at dusk to hunt. Elf owls are sometimes drawn to campers’ fires, probably for the bugs circling the light. They also eat centipedes, scorpions, and occasionally small birds or lizards.  If the owl is threatened, it will usually sit still and camouflage itself in the trees, looking like a broken branch.

(click here to see a dissected owl pellet)  

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ABOUT THIS BACKGROUND

This background was created from images of sculptures created by this team's members.  The sculptures were photographed using a digital camera, edited using PhotoShop 6.0, copied and pasted together to make the new image that we used for this background.