The Northern Pygmy-Owl is a fascinating bird for those of us interested in vocalizations and taxonomy.\u00a0 Many people think that what we call “Northern Pygmy-Owl” may contain somewhere between two and four species, based on regional differences in vocalizations.\u00a0 Here’s a brief overview of the differences, according to The Sibley Guide to Birds (2000), with a typical spectrogram and sound of each:<\/p>\n
According to Sibley, birds along the Pacific Coast of North America “give very slow single toots (1 note every 2 or more sec).”\u00a0 The example below is even slower than most; 2.5 seconds between notes seems pretty standard.\u00a0 Although one might expect birds in Montana<\/a> to be part of the Interior West group, the sole recording available seems to fit better in this group.<\/p>\n