Cloud-forest Pygmy Owl

The cloud-forest pygmy owl or cloudforest pygmy owl (Glaucidium nubicola) is a short, muscular, small-sized species of owl found throughout the Andes of western Colombia and north-western Ecuador, being confined to cloud forests between 900–2000 m a.s.l. Below this altitudinal range the Central American pygmy owl (Glaucidium griseiceps) occurs; above it, the Andean pygmy owl (Glaucidium jardinii) occurs. Its epithet nubicola is Latin for "cloud-inhabiting", because this species is restricted to very humid cloud forests. == Taxonomy and systematics == The cloud-forest pygmy owl was first described under its current binomial name by ornithologists Mark B. Robbins and F. Gary Styles in 1999. Glaucidium is the diminutive form of the Greek word "glaux" (γλαύξ), meaning "little owl"; and the species name nubicola is Latin for "cloud-inhabiting". The cloud-forest pygmy owl belongs to the genus Glaucidium whose lineage includes 26 to 31 species of small owls. All species of Glaucidium are diurnal or crepuscular owls that prey on insects, reptiles and small birds. This genus appertains to the owl family Strigidae. In the past, the cloud-forest pygmy owl was considered to be conspecific with the more widespread Andean pygmy owl (Glaucidium jardinii), which breeds in the humid montane and temperate forest…