Little Owl (Athene noctua) [XC799683]
by Thijs Calu from Pontevedra (near Campelo), Pontevedra, Galicia, Spain (uncertain)
Little Owl (Athene noctua) [XC881486]
by Anthony ROUX from Noodbrug voor fietsers en wandelaars (near Zwammerdam), Alphen aan Den Rijn, Zuid-Holland, Netherlands (call)
Nest
In a hole of a tree or building, or a crevice in a cliff.
Subspecies
Probably forms superspecies with Spotted Owlet (Athene brama). Subspecies lilith may be separate species. Many subspecies considered probably intermediate populations or reflection of individual variation, while geographical subspecific boundaries obscure, with intergrading populations: vidalii and indigena intergrade over wide area in north-western Russia; noctua intergrades with vidalii over wide area from southern France east to Czech and Slovak Republics and with indigena in former Yugoslavia; indigena and vidalii intergrade in northern Ukraine, Belarus and central Russia; lilith intergrades with saharae in Saudi Arabia and with bactriana in Iraq. Corsican and Sardinian birds perhaps warrant subspecific status (as sarda).
Proposed subspecies kessleri and caucasica synonymous with indigena; solitudinis synonymous with saharae.
The following 13 subspecies are recognised:
vidalii Brehm, AE, 1857 - Western and northern Europe (southern Baltic south to Iberia, including Balearic Is) east to north-western Russia.
noctua (Scopoli, 1769) - Central Europe (from about southern Germany) south to Sardinia and Sicily, east to Romania.
indigena Brehm, CL, 1855 - Albania, south-eastern Yugoslavia, southern and eastern Romania, southern Ukraine, southern Russia, Caucasus and south-western Siberia, south to Crete, Turkey (except south-east) and Middle East (south to Haifa).
glaux (Savigny, 1809) - Northern Africa, and coastal Israel southern from Haifa.
saharae (Kleinschmidt, O, 1909) - Northern and central Sahara (south to Mauritania, Mali, Niger, Chad and Sudan), eastern discontinuously into Arabian Peninsula.
The Reader's Digest Book of British Birds 1980, 3rd Edition, Drive Publications Ltd ISBN 0 340 25308 8
Birds in Colour Campbell, B., 1960, Penguin Books Ltd
The Pocket Guide to Nest and Eggs Fitter, R.S.R., 1954, Collins
RSPB Handbook of British Birds Holden, P., Cleeves, T., 2002, A & C Black ISBN 0 7136 5713 8
Birds of Britain and Europe Sterry, P., et al., 2001, AA Publishing ISBN 0 7495 3068 5
The Popular Handbook of British Birds Hollom, P.A.D., 1973, H.F. & G. Witherby Ltd ISBN 0 85493 002 7
BirdLife International Species Factsheet