By Mariano Gómez · Updated on 7 October 2026

Birds

Little Owl, the small yellow-eyed owl of poles and stone heaps

Athene noctuaHear its song0:16

Photo gallery of the Little Owl

Identification of the Little Owl

The Little Owl is a small nocturnal raptor of stocky shape, characterised above all by a bulky, rounded head without head tufts. Brown and greyish tones predominate in its plumage, heavily spotted with white. The underparts are paler than the upperparts, although they also appear heavily spotted.

The broad head is adorned with fine white spots, and the feathers around the bill and the striking white eyebrows frame large yellow eyes with a surprised expression. The tail is short, like the wings, which tend to be rounded; both are abundantly barred with brownish bands.

Adult

• Broad, rounded head, without tufts; yellow eyes and white eyebrows.
• Brown and grey spotted with white; short, barred wings and tail.

Habitat and distribution of the Little Owl

It is a bird of Eurasian and North African distribution, ranging over practically the whole of Europe, apart from the most northerly areas, Ireland and Iceland, and over a good part of central Asia to eastern China and Korea, as well as the Middle East and the regions washed by the Red Sea, including almost the whole Arabian Peninsula. It has a large number of subspecies.

In Spain it is distributed as a breeder across practically the whole peninsular territory, although it avoids the great mountain systems, though sometimes it reaches a considerable altitude on favourable aspects. In the northern third of the Peninsula its populations are fragmentary and less abundant, and it is also rare in the Balearics. On the Peninsula and in the Balearics the subspecies «vidalii» breeds, and in Ceuta and Melilla the subspecies «glaux» appears. It is absent from the Canaries.

Undemanding in its choice of habitat, it readily settles in a great variety of environments, from riverside groves to urban parks, dehesas and copses, although the best densities are found in rather open spaces, above all in not too homogeneous farming landscapes, in which dry-farmed crops, olive groves, riverside groves, scattered trees and wasteland alternate. It is not uncommon for it to settle inside towns.

It is strictly sedentary throughout its range. Young birds do not travel long distances in their dispersal either: they settle no more than 30 kilometres from where they were born.

Etymology of the Little Owl

«Athene» recalls the Greek goddess Athena, to whom the owl was a symbol of wisdom. «Noctua» is the Latin name of an owl consecrated to Minerva, the Roman Athena, and so means the same.

Population of the Little Owl

In the 2021 European Red List of Birds the European breeding population is estimated at between 1,150,000 and 2,140,000 mature individuals, with an unknown demographic trend. The Spanish population was calculated at some 40,000 pairs, according to the Atlas of Breeding Birds of Spain (2003). According to the SACRE programme, the trend is negative: between 1998 and 2018 a fall of 50 % of numbers is calculated, and the Noctua programme detects a decline of 24 % between 2006 and 2018. In Spain it reaches the highest densities in Europe, and it is the most abundant nocturnal raptor over a good part of the territory. Agricultural intensification explains its decline in the Mediterranean region, through the loss of nesting sites and the low availability of insects and small mammals. Road deaths, especially of young birds in July and August, are also a threat, and main roads can act as ecological traps, with perches and abundant prey but with noise and collisions.

Nest of the Little Owl

The nest is a slight hollow with no added material, always set in more or less spacious cavities, both natural (from hollow trunks to rabbit burrows) and artificial (dovecotes, stone heaps, abandoned houses).

Courtship and breeding of the Little Owl

A great deal of vocal activity announces the breeding period, which usually begins in late March or early April. The female lays two to five eggs and incubates them without her mate’s help for 25–30 days. The chicks usually hatch during May and are fed by both parents, although the male usually just brings the prey to the nest for the female to offer to the brood. At 30–35 days the chicks already fly, although they need food from their parents for some weeks more, until they reach their full hunting abilities.

Diet of the Little Owl

The diet varies markedly with local prey availability. In the southern regions, a good part is made up of invertebrates (crickets, beetles, grasshoppers, moths, earthworms), and as latitude rises the proportion of vertebrates increases, above all rodents. It has several perches in its territory from which it stalks its prey, although at other times it searches the ground for insects and earthworms.

Curious facts about the Little Owl

Its stocky silhouette cut out at dusk on a pole or a stone heap is still one of the most usual and characteristic images of Spanish farming environments. It reaches the highest densities in all of Europe in Spain. Its scientific name recalls Athena, the goddess of wisdom.

The Little Owl in Cabañeros

This website’s page on grasslands explains that during winter it feeds on the small mammals usual in the grasslands and scrub boundaries of Cabañeros (Algerian Mouse, Mediterranean pine vole, field mouse) and that, when March comes, it progressively opts for eating insects.

Where to see the Little Owl in Cabañeros

In the grasslands and scrub boundaries of Cabañeros.

When

All year round: it is strictly sedentary.

What time

At dusk and at dawn, but also by day, on poles, stumps, roofs or stones.

Where

In open spaces with crops, olive groves, riverside groves, scattered trees and wasteland, and in dehesas and copses.

What to look for

A tiny, stocky owl, with round head and yellow eyes, which stays staring.

Videos of the Little Owl

Similar species

Eurasian Scops Owl

Otus scops

How to tell them apart

They are similar in appearance¹. The Eurasian Scops Owl is small, with greyish or reddish-brown plumage with a complex pattern of speckles and bands, and has small head tufts, like false ears, which the Little Owl lacks.

Photo: Mike Duchstein, CC BY-SA 4.0

Boreal Owl

Aegolius funereus

How to tell them apart

The size of a Little Owl, but with a strikingly large head, flattened on top, and a face pattern that gives it a look of astonishment. Its plumage varies from brown to greyish.

Photo: Christoph Moning, CC BY 4.0

Other birds

Bibliography

• Jiménez García-Herrera, José. (2017). Aves de Cabañeros y su entorno. Madrid, Spain: Ecohábitat.
• SEO Birdlife - Sociedad Española de Ornitología
• https://es.wikipedia.org/
• Hume, Rob. (2016). Guía de campo de las Aves de España y Europa. Barcelona, Spain: Ediciones Omega