Animal
Elf owl
The elf owl is a tiny owl, shorter than a grown-up's hand. It lives in deserts with giant cactus. It eats moths, beetles and crickets.
The elf owl is a tiny owl, only 12 to 14 centimeters long and weighing 37 to 55 grams. Audubon and the Animal Diversity Web both call it the smallest owl in the world. It lives in the deserts and canyons of the south-western United States and Mexico, nests in old woodpecker holes in giant saguaro cactus and trees, and hunts insects at night.
Micrathene whitneyi is a tiny, insect-eating owl of the deserts, thorn woodland and canyon forests of the south-western United States and Mexico, up to 2,100 meters. Most birds breed near the United States-Mexico border and winter in southern Mexico. BirdLife International assessed it as Least Concern for the IUCN Red List (assessed 2020, published 2021), with about 72,000 mature individuals and a decreasing trend.
Photo: Dominic Sherony, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Meet the elf owl
The elf owl is a very, very small owl.
It has big yellow eyes and white eyebrows. It is no bigger than a sparrow.
The elf owl is tiny: 12 to 14 centimeters long, with wings about 27 to 31 centimeters across, and it weighs only 37 to 55 grams. Audubon says it is no bigger than a sparrow and calls it the smallest owl in the world.
It has a round head with no feather 'ear' tufts, yellow eyes, white eyebrows and a short tail. Its back is grayish brown, its underside is softly streaked, and a white stripe and rows of white spots run along its folded wing.
The Audubon field guide (adapted from Kenn Kaufman, 1996) gives a length of 12 to 14 centimeters for females and 12 to 13 centimeters for males, a wingspan of 27 to 31 centimeters, and masses of 40 to 55 grams for females and 37 to 45 grams for males; both Audubon and the Animal Diversity Web account (Sterling 2002) call it the smallest owl in the world.
The sexes look alike. ADW describes yellow irises, conspicuous white eyebrows, two rows of white spots on the wings, a grayish-brown back with buff mottling and blurry cinnamon-brown streaks below; Audubon adds the white stripe above the wing and the short tail, and notes that it has no ear tufts.
Quick facts
- Group
- Bird
- Length
- 0.12 to 0.14 m
- Wingspan
- 0.27 to 0.31 m
- Weight
- 0.04 to 0.06 kg
- Lifespan in the wild
- up to 5 years
Cactus deserts and canyons
Elf owls live in the United States and Mexico.
Many live in deserts with giant saguaro cactus.
Elf owls live in Mexico and the south-western United States: Arizona, California, New Mexico and Texas. They are most common in deserts with many tall saguaro cactus or big mesquite trees, and in canyons with sycamores and oaks.
Most elf owls that nest in the United States fly south to Mexico for the winter, because the insects they eat are hard to find in cold weather. A few groups in Mexico stay in the same place all year.
IUCN lists the species in Mexico and the southern United States, up to 2,100 meters, as a full migrant. The ADW account (2002) describes upland desert, subtropical thorn woodland, montane evergreen woodland, canyon riparian forest and partly urbanized areas, mostly in Arizona and Sonora but also in parts of California, New Mexico and Texas. Most birds belong to three populations that breed near the United States-Mexico border and winter in southern Mexico; three other populations, in southern Baja California and Puebla, do not migrate.
Audubon calls it strictly a summer resident north of the border, arriving early in spring and leaving fairly early in autumn, because the insects it eats become hard to find in cold weather. A subspecies endemic to Socorro Island, Mexico, has not been recorded since 1931 and is likely extinct (IUCN).
Continent
Its habitat
Where can you find this animal?
- Lives here naturally · Countries and seas named by a scientific source
- Sightings recorded · Records of wild sightings (GBIF)
Lives here naturally · Countries and seas named by a scientific source
Deserts with saguaro cactus and mesquite, thorn woodland, mountain woodland and canyon forests of the south-western United States and Mexico, up to 2,100 meters; most United States birds spend the winter in southern Mexico.
Places: Mexico and United States.
Source: iucn-red-list · checked October 2026
Sightings recorded · Records of wild sightings (GBIF)
Counts of GBIF records of wild observations (human and machine) and preserved specimens. Records include introduced populations, vagrants, escaped or released animals and misidentifications, so a country with records is not necessarily part of the native range.
Wild sightings have been recorded in United States and Mexico.
Source: gbif · checked October 2026
Range maps show where scientists say an animal lives, often country by country. An animal may live in only part of a country shown, and sightings records can include animals that wandered far from home.
Moths, crickets and scorpions
Elf owls eat bugs: moths, beetles and crickets.
They even eat scorpions and spiders!
Elf owls eat insects and other small creatures without backbones. In summer they eat many moths, beetles and crickets, as well as katydids, scorpions and spiders. Rarely they catch a small lizard.
An elf owl watches from a perch, then swoops down to grab prey from the ground. It also flies out to catch insects in the air, or hovers by the leaves to scare out insects. It catches prey with its feet and sometimes with its beak, and it may take the stinger off a scorpion before eating it.
Audubon describes a diet of insects and other arthropods: moths, beetles and crickets in summer, katydids and other night-active insects, scorpions and spiders, and rarely lizards and other small vertebrates; ADW (2002) adds that in south-eastern Arizona the owls eat mainly moths and crickets until the summer rains begin, then switch to scarab beetles.
It hunts only at dusk and at night (Audubon), watching from a perch and swooping down to take prey from the ground, flying low and hovering before pouncing, flying out to catch flying insects, or hovering among foliage to flush insects from the leaves. Audubon says it apparently catches all its prey with its feet, while ADW says flying insects are taken with the feet or the beak; both describe it removing a scorpion's stinger before eating it.
Did you know?
The elf owl is one of the smallest owls in the world!
Audubon and the Animal Diversity Web both call the elf owl the smallest owl in the world.
Both the Audubon guide and the ADW account describe it as the world's smallest owl, at 37 to 55 grams.
A tiny night hunter
Elf owls wake up when the sun goes down.
They can walk, hop and even climb.
Elf owls are nocturnal: they are most active at dusk and before dawn. Besides flying, they walk and hop, and they can climb like parrots. They fly between perches in U-shaped swoops, and sometimes glide and hover.
For such a small bird, an elf owl is loud. On moonlit spring nights, its yapping and chuckling calls echo through the cactus and the canyons.
The ADW account (2002) describes elf owls as nocturnal, most active at dusk and before dawn, moving by walking and hopping and able to climb like parrots; they strike prey in a straight line, fly in U-shaped arcs between perches and sometimes glide and hover. Some populations migrate and others are sedentary.
Audubon describes the yapping and chuckling calls, surprisingly loud for the bird's size, echoing among groves of giant cactus and lower canyons on moonlit nights in late spring. ADW notes that males have a song that both claims a territory and advertises to females, and that hungry nestlings peep, twitter and rasp, louder and faster the hungrier they are.
Listen to an elf owl
Listen to the sound at the start of this page.
It is a real female elf owl calling from an old woodpecker hole.
At the start of this page you can play a real recording of a female elf owl. She was poking her head out of an old woodpecker hole and making quiet, steady begging calls. It was recorded in the United States in March 2019 and shared on xeno-canto, a website where people share recordings of wild birds.
The recording on this page is xeno-canto XC463541 by Diana Doyle (25 March 2019, United States, 1,500 meters): a female with her head out of an acorn woodpecker cavity, giving quiet, continuous begging calls; the recordist saw the bird and did not use playback.
Audubon notes that the male feeds the female in courtship and brings her food while she incubates.
Did you know?
A father elf owl sings from inside a hole to show it to the mother.
A male elf owl sings from inside a possible nest hole to lure a female to it.
Males sing from inside potential nest cavities to lure females (Audubon) and defend more than one cavity (ADW).
A home in a woodpecker hole
Elf owls nest in old woodpecker holes in cactus and trees.
The mother lays about 3 white eggs. The father brings food.
Elf owls do not make their own nest holes. They almost always use an old woodpecker hole in a tree or a giant saguaro cactus, and sometimes in a power pole. The male sings from inside a hole to show it to the female.
The female usually lays 3 white eggs and keeps them warm for about 24 days, while the male brings her food. After about 2 weeks the female starts hunting too. The young leave the nest at about 27 to 28 days old.
Early in the breeding season the male sings loudly at night to defend a territory and attract a female, feeds her in courtship and sings from inside a possible nest hole to lure her to it (Audubon). Nests are almost always old woodpecker holes in trees or giant cactus, or in utility poles: usually 15 to 50 feet (about 5 to 15 meters) up in streamside sycamores and 10 to 30 feet (about 3 to 9 meters) up in saguaros. ADW (2002) adds agave and yucca stalks, alligator junipers, fence posts and nest boxes, and notes that males defend more than one cavity.
The clutch is usually 3 white eggs (2 to 4, rarely 1 to 5); the female alone incubates for about 24 days while the male brings food. She stays with the young at first, then also hunts after about 2 weeks. The young leave the nest at about 27 to 28 days and are cared for by their parents for at least several more days (Audubon). Females can breed at 1 year (ADW).
Small but brave
Elf owls are small, but they chase away animals that come near their nest.
Neighbor owls come to help!
Elf owl pairs usually stay together at least for one nesting season, and some stay together for life. A male guards more than one nest hole, so the pair has spare holes for roosting, or for a new nest if the first one fails.
When a predator comes near a nest, the pair, often joined by neighboring elf owls, gang up on it and attack its head to drive it away.
The ADW account (2002) describes elf owls as usually monogamous, either for a breeding season or for life. Males are polyterritorial, defending several cavities that serve for roosting or renesting. Adults and fledglings may be taken by great horned owls, Mexican jays and probably Cooper's hawks, and eggs and chicks by gopher snakes, green rat snakes and perhaps ringtails.
When a predator appears near the nest, the nesting pair and one to four neighboring elf owls may mob it together, attacking its head; elf owls bark and flip their tails as they face intruders or mob predators (ADW).
Did you know?
An elf owl may take the stinger off a scorpion before eating it!
Elf owls eat scorpions, and they may remove the stinger first.
Scorpions are taken, and the owl may remove the stinger before eating (Audubon).
Losing nest holes
Elf owls need old woodpecker holes for their nests.
People can help by keeping old cactus and trees.
The elf owl is listed as Least Concern, but its number is going down. Experts estimated about 72,000 grown-up elf owls in 2019.
By the 1990s it had become rare along the lower Colorado River and in southern Texas, probably because its habitat was lost (Kenn Kaufman, 1996), and by 2002 it was listed as endangered in California. Where old trees and cactus are cleared, elf owls lose the woodpecker holes they need for nesting.
BirdLife International assessed Micrathene whitneyi as Least Concern for the IUCN Red List (assessed 19 February 2020, published 2021): its range and population are very large, and although the trend is decreasing, the decline is not thought to be rapid enough to approach the threshold for Vulnerable. IUCN cites a Partners in Flight (2019) estimate of 72,000 mature individuals.
Kaufman's 1996 account, used by Audubon, reported that it had become scarce along the lower Colorado River and in southern Texas, probably because of habitat loss, though it was still common in many parts of southern Arizona. The ADW account (2002) notes that it is classified as endangered in California, that loss of woodpecker-hole nest cavities where woodland is cleared reduces its breeding habitat, and that a 1983 attempt to restore riparian woodland along the lower Colorado River had mixed results.
IUCN Red List
How is the elf owl doing in the wild?
- Least Concern (this animal)
- Near Threatened
- Vulnerable
- Endangered
- Critically Endangered
- Extinct in the Wild
- Extinct
Least Concern
Not at risk of disappearing from the wild right now.
See the IUCN Red List assessment · The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2021.3
Amazing facts
-
The elf owl is one of the smallest owls in the world!
Audubon and the Animal Diversity Web both call the elf owl the smallest owl in the world.
Both the Audubon guide and the ADW account describe it as the world's smallest owl, at 37 to 55 grams.
-
An elf owl may take the stinger off a scorpion before eating it!
Elf owls eat scorpions, and they may remove the stinger first.
Scorpions are taken, and the owl may remove the stinger before eating (Audubon).
-
Elf owls can climb like parrots!
Besides flying, elf owls walk, hop and even climb like parrots.
Elf owls move by walking and hopping and can climb like parrots (ADW).
-
A father elf owl sings from inside a hole to show it to the mother.
A male elf owl sings from inside a possible nest hole to lure a female to it.
Males sing from inside potential nest cavities to lure females (Audubon) and defend more than one cavity (ADW).
Words to know
- nocturnal
- active at night
- cavity
- a hole or hollow space, such as an old woodpecker hole
- saguaro
- a giant cactus of the deserts of the south-western United States and Mexico
- migrate
- to travel to another place for part of the year
- arthropod
- an animal without a backbone that has jointed legs, such as an insect, spider or scorpion
- mob
- when several animals gang up on a predator, calling at it and attacking it, to chase it away
Discovery challenge
-
What does an elf owl mostly eat?
What makes up most of an elf owl's food?
What is the elf owl's main prey?
- Insects
- Fish
- Fruit
Show the answer
Insects
Bugs like moths, beetles and crickets.
Insects and other small creatures such as scorpions and spiders.
Insects and other arthropods; small vertebrates only rarely (Audubon).
-
Where do elf owls make their nests?
Where do elf owls usually nest?
What kind of nest site does the elf owl almost always use?
- In old woodpecker holes
- On the ground in the open
- In nests made of mud
Show the answer
In old woodpecker holes
In old woodpecker holes in cactus and trees.
In old woodpecker holes in trees and giant saguaro cactus, and sometimes in poles.
Old woodpecker holes in trees, giant cactus or utility poles (Audubon).
-
Where do many elf owls go in winter?
Where do most elf owls from the United States spend the winter?
Where do the migratory border populations of elf owls spend the winter?
- Mexico
- Canada
- Australia
Show the answer
Mexico
They fly south to Mexico.
In Mexico, where they can still find insects.
In southern Mexico (ADW); north of the border they are strictly summer residents (Audubon).
-
How big is an elf owl?
About how long is an elf owl?
What is the elf owl's typical length?
- 12 to 14 centimeters
- 1 meter
- 50 centimeters
Show the answer
12 to 14 centimeters
It is tiny: about 12 to 14 centimeters long.
12 to 14 centimeters, about the size of a sparrow.
12 to 14 centimeters, 37 to 55 grams (Audubon).
Places where you might see it
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Watch
Country
United States
The United States is a large country in North America made of 50 states, from icy Alaska to the warm islands of Hawaii. It has the Grand Canyon, the Mississippi River and Yellowstone, and about 342 million people live there.
-
Watch
Country
Mexico
Mexico is a large country in southern North America, between the Pacific Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico. It has smoking volcanoes, ancient cities built by the Maya and other peoples, and about 132 million people, many of them in and around Mexico City.
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The eastern screech owl is a small, robin-sized owl with feather 'ear' tufts, yellow eyes and patterned feathers that can be gray, brown or reddish. It lives in eastern North America, from Canada to Mexico, in woods, farm groves, city parks and shady suburbs, where many people never know an owl lives nearby. Despite its name, its usual calls are trills and whinnies, not screeches.
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Greater roadrunner
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For parents & teachers
What children will learn
- Describe how the elf owl depends on woodpecker holes.
- Explain why an insect-eating bird migrates for the winter.
- Compare the elf owl's size with familiar objects.
- Identify the elf owl's main features.
Recommended ages: 3 to 17 · About 15 minutes
Talk about it
- Why might an owl that eats insects need to fly south for the winter?
- How do woodpeckers help elf owls without meaning to?
- Why might keeping old cactus and trees matter for small animals?
Try at home or in class
- Cut a strip of paper 13 centimeters long to see how long an elf owl is, and compare it with your hand.
- Make a 'nest hole' from a cardboard tube and count how many small toys fit inside, then talk about why a tiny owl can use a woodpecker's old hole.
Key vocabulary: nocturnal, cavity, saguaro, migrate, arthropod, mob
Where these facts come from
- GBIF Backbone Taxonomy and GBIF Occurrence Search , Global Biodiversity Information Facility (CC0 1.0 (backbone); occurrence counts are facts derived from records under CC0, CC BY and CC BY-NC)
- Wikidata , Wikimedia Foundation (CC0 1.0)
- The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species , International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN terms of use (no redistribution of Red List data or range maps))
- Micrathene whitneyi (BirdLife International, assessed 19 February 2020, published 2021) , IUCN Red List of Threatened Species
- Micrathene whitneyi: range and population text , IUCN Red List of Threatened Species
- Micrathene whitneyi: IUCN Red List global assessment record (BirdLife International 2021), IUCN checklist on GBIF , GBIF
- Elf Owl (Guide to North American Birds, adapted from Kenn Kaufman, Lives of North American Birds) , National Audubon Society
- Micrathene whitneyi (Sterling, K. 2002) , Animal Diversity Web, University of Michigan Museum of Zoology
- File:Elf Owl (Micrathene whitneyi) (17210856942).jpg (14 April 2015, Dominic Sherony) , Wikimedia Commons
- File:Micrathene whitneyi - Elf Owl XC463541.mp3 (Diana Doyle, United States, 25 March 2019) , Wikimedia Commons
- Wikimedia Commons , Wikimedia Foundation (Per file: Public domain, CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA only (credited on each page))
Checked, not yet human-reviewed. Last updated November 1, 2026. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.