Michele Mendi

The smallest nocturnal raptor in Europe. It prefers coniferous or mixed forests, with access to open areas such as clearings, moors, meadows or avalanche pathways. The species is widely distributed across the boreal zone of Eurasia from Scandinavia through Siberia to NE China and Sakhalin Is; in addition, it has fragmented distribution in the mountains of S, C & E Europe (Holt et al. 2020). Russia holds the European stronghold of species population (Keller et al. 2020).

The species is mostly resident but irregularly irruptive in N Europe (Mikkola 1983).

Its population trend in Europe is stable. Evaluated as “Least Concern” (BirdLife International 2021).

Season of assessment

B

Population trendStable
Population size
(min-max, best estimate)		165000-313000,230000
Red List categoryLC
Franks, S., Fiedler, W., Arizaga, J., Jiguet, F., Nikolov, B., van der Jeugd, Ambrosini, R, Aizpurua, O., Bairlein, F., Clark, J., Fattorini, N, Hammond, M., Higgins, D, Levering, H., Skellorn, W., Spina, F, Thorup, K. Walker, J., Woodward, I. and Baillie, S.R. (1) (2022) Online Atlas of the movements of European bird populations. https://migrationatlas.org EURING/CMS (1) Principal investigator
Map

Overall Connectivity for Eurasian Pygmy Owl

Most populations are largely sedentary, cold weather and rodent scarcity are believed to be the main triggers of the irregular irruptions in N Europe (Holt et al. 2020). Marked sex- and age biased irruptions – the migrants have been found to be mainly juveniles, and females migrated in larger numbers than males (Lehikoinen et al. 2011, Polakowski et al. 2008).

Data for mostly within-region movements are available – mainly from Fennoscandia, but also from C Europe (Germany, Switzerland), E Baltic region and Russia. Most birds ringed have been encountered within the same country. Three long-distance recoveries of ca. 990-1100 km exist of birds ringed in Finland and encountered SW (Sweden) and SE & E (Russia) of the ringing sites.

The return movements in spring of the birds which wintered in S Sweden during the irruption of 1963-64 have been in a NE direction (Mikkola 1983).

Recoveries by Condition for Eurasian Pygmy Owl

Protected species throughout Europe. Very few encounters prior to 1960. Most encounters – ca. 74%, were obtained after 2000. The bulk of encounters come from May-Jun – 65% (nestbox ringing), and from Oct-Nov (42%, autumn dispersal/ irruptions). N Europe holds the majority of encounters (ca 93%), mostly Finland. About half (52%) of all distant (>= 50 km) recoveries pertain to travelled distances less than 150 km.

The number of encounters based on dead birds stayed low and decreased slightly over time – from 16% in 1961-1980 to 7% after 1991, while those based on alive birds increased from 83 to 93% respectively (the latter mostly due to ringing encounters). Collision with glass is among the currently important negative factors (2.7%).

Annual Movements for Eurasian Pygmy Owl

Post-breeding dispersal in juveniles is evident as early as Aug. Autumn movements continue until late Nov; the peak in bird numbers has been recorded in early- to mid-Oct (Noskov et al. 2016). Adults migrate later than young birds (Lehikoinen et al. 2011).

During a large irruption in Russia in 1963-64 autumn movements started in Oct, the numbers peaked in Dec and the return movements in spring were noted in Mar (But'ev et al. 2005); similar timing of the northbound movements during the same irruption has been noted for S Sweden (Mikkola 1983).

The species is reluctant to fly over open water (Mikkola 1983); irruptions of Scandinavian population usually cease at the Baltic Sea coast, and there are no encounters connecting N and C Europe.

Connectivity by Month by Region for Eurasian Pygmy Owl

Females move much further away in their natal dispersal compared to males – 31.6 vs. 11.5 km respectively (Newton et al. 2002).

Juveniles initiate their dispersal movements after the breeding season from late summer. In Finland, no preferred direction has been recorded in juveniles during their first autumn and winter (Sep-Feb) movements based on encounters at distances of more than 100 km (Saurola et al. 2013).

A peak in the numbers of both juvenile and adult birds is reached in mid-autumn, the movement intensity decreases in late autumn (Noskov et al. 2016). Return movements in migrating birds have been recorded in early spring (Mikkola 1983; But'ev et al. 2005).

Except for Finland, the data set of distant (>= 50 km) recoveries from other countries is extremely scarce.

Boris Nikolov

References

Statistics Map
N records N individuals N recoveries
Mapped data*
Total available data
*Mapped data include only distant (>= 50 km) recoveries
References Map
2020 . European Breeding Bird Atlas 2: Distribution, Abundance and Change. European Bird Census Council & Lynx Edicions, BarcelonaEditor(s): Keller, V., S. Herrando, P. Voříšek, et al.
BirdLife International2021 . Species factsheet: Glaucidium passerinum. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 05/08/2021.
But’ev, V. T., Zubkov, N. I., Ivanchev, V. P., Koblik, E. A., Kovshar, A. F., Kotyukov, Y. V., Lyuleeva, D. S., Nazarov, Y. N., Nechaev, V. A., Priklonskiy, S. G., Pukinskiy, Y. B., Rustamov, A. K., Sorokin, A. G., Fridman, V. S. 2005 . Birds of Russia and adjacent territories: Strigiformes, Caprimulgiformes, Apodiformes, Coraciiformes, Upupiformes, Piciformes. KMK, Moscow
Holt, D. W., R. Berkley, C. Deppe, P. L. Enríquez, J. L. Petersen, J. L. Rangel Salazar, K. P. Segars, K. L. Wood, and J. S. Marks 2020 . Eurasian Pygmy-Owl (Glaucidium passerinum), version 1.0. In Birds of the World Link to Article (DOI: https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.eupowl1.01) Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA
Lehikoinen, A., Hokkanen, T., Lokki, H. 2011 . Young and female-biased irruptions in Pygmy Owls Glaucidium passerinum in southern Finland. Journal of Avian Biology 42: 564–569
Mikkola, H. 1983 . Оwls of Europe. Т & A D Poyser, London
Newton, I., Kavanagh, R., Olsen, J., Taylor, I. 2002 . Ecology and Conservation of Owls. CSIRO Publ., Collingwood
Noskov, G. A., Rymkevich, T. A., Gaginskaya, A. R. 2016 . Migration of Birds on Northwest Russia. Non-Passerines. ANO LA “Professional”, Saint Petersburg
Polakowski, M., Broniszewska, M., Skierczynski, M. 2008 . Sex and age composition during autumn migration of pygmy owl Glaucidium passerinum in central Sweden in 2005. Ornis Svecica 18: 82–86
Saurola, P. Valkama, J., Velmala, W. 2013 . The Finnish Bird Ringing Atlas Vol. I. Finnish Museum of Natural History and Ministry of Environment, Helsinki

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