November 23, 2020, Santa Cruz County
I decided to go to southern Santa Cruz County this morning and search for vagrants, especially sparrows. I was hoping to find Field Sparrows or Rufous-backed Robins. After finding just a few common birds I was distracted by alarm calls and sparrows mobbing a bird hidden in the brushy trees . Investigating, I saw the backside of an odd looking bird, which I couldn’t ID. Owl was not on my radar. But after peering through my bins for a few seconds I was struck by the realization that I had stumbled across a small owl. Eventually the owl posed and I got about 50-or-so photos, almost all identical. I was struck by the rufous-barred tail. I pulled up my iPhone bird app and found, to my surprise, that I had a Ferruginous Pygmy Owl, a lifer.
Ebird warned that this was a sensitive species and I should not reveal the location, and they wouldn’t include it in my public posts. That’s why I have not provided a detailed location/description of the site. These photos are reduced size, the full resolution ones are better. This web host has issues with big files.
