Central American Pygmy-Owl

The Central American pygmy owl is 13 to 18 cm (5.1 to 7.1 in) long. Males weigh 50.6 to 58.8 g (1.78 to 2.07 oz) and females about 56 g (2.0 oz). Adults' crown and nape are grayish brown; the crown has buff to whitish spots and the nape dark "false eyes". Their upperparts and tail are rich brown and the tail has pale bars across it. Their underparts are whitish with reddish brown streaks. The juvenile's crown and nape are gray; the crown is unspotted and the nape's false eyes are sooty.

The Central American pygmy owl is found from Veracruz, Oaxaca, and Chiapas in southern Mexico through Guatemala, Belize, Honduras, Costa Rica, and Panama into northwestern Colombia with a gap in central Nicaragua. A disjunct populations is in far northwestern Ecuador. It inhabits lowland and foothill humid tropical evergreen forest, secondary forest, semi-open areas, and mature cacao plantations. In elevation it ranges from sea level to 1,200 m (3,900 ft) in Mexico and Honduras, 1,300 m (4,300 ft) in Guatemala, and 800 m (2,600 ft) in Costa Rica. In Ecuador it is known only between 200 and 600 m (660 and 1,970 ft).

Though the Central American pygmy owl is primarily nocturnal, it also often hunts in daytime. Its diet is poorly known but is thought to be large insects, other invertebrates, and small lizards, birds, and mammals.