Dutch Birding volume 29 (2007) no 3

Eurasian Pygmy Owl at Sumarreheide in October 2002

On 4 October 2002, a small owl was picked up alive after colliding with a window at Sumarreheide, Friesland, the Netherlands. The residents took c 30 sec of video footage of the owl, after which it escaped and flew off. It was tentatively identified as Little Owl Athene noctua (the only small owl species regularly occurring in the area). In February 2004, a few video-stills were shown to a local owl expert, who re-identified the bird as Eurasian Pygmy Owl Glaucidium passerinum. The observation was submitted and the bird was accepted as the first Eurasian Pygmy Owl for the Netherlands. It was identified by its very small size, facial pattern, spotted crown and brown-streaked underparts. Some North American Glaudicidium species (which could theoretically occur as escapes) can be very similar in morphology but the Nearctic taxa always show 'swollen' nostrils, which Eurasian Pygmy Owl lacks.

The bird may have originated from Germany, where the species is spreading north-west and where the closest breeding areas are c 110 km from the Dutch border; one of the northerly strongholds (Lüneburger Heide, Niedersachsen) is situated at c 230 km from Sumarreheide. Dispersal of (especially first-year) birds is well known and ringed birds have been recorded up to 300 km from the breeding site. A Scandinavian origin is also a possibility (during invasion years, birds regularly come as far south as northern Denmark) but, since there were no notable southward movements in Scandinavia in autumn 2002 (contrary to autumn 2003, when there was a small invasion with three to four birds reaching Denmark), this is less likely.

The second record for the Netherlands concerns a bird seen and heard by a single observer on 10 December 2005 at Bakkeveen, Friesland; this site is only c 15 km from Sumarreheide.

Enno B Ebels, Joseph Haydnlaan 4, 3533 AE Utrecht, Nederland
(ebelswxs.nl)
Jan Deinum, Bosweg 15, 9262 SX Sumar, Nederland
(jandeinumplanet.nl)