The boreal owl or Tengmalm's owl is a small owl. It is known as boreal owl in North America, and in Europe typically as Tengmalm's owl after Swedish naturalist Peter Gustaf Tengmalm or, more rarely, Richardson's owl after Sir John Richardson. Due to the boreal owl’s shyness and evasive reaction to human activities, nocturnal habits and preferred inaccessible taiga forest habitat, it is rarely seen by humans.
Similar species: Owls
By Thibaud Aronson
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Uploaded Oct 4, 2021. Captured Jul 24, 2021 09:53 in V399+C7 Bethmale, France.
comments (12)
I've wanted to see this owl since I was a kid, and with this trip to the Pyrenees, I knew I had a small chance of finding one, and I had planned a whole series of night outings in Andorra to try my luck.
And then, on the very first day of the trip, on a hike with non-birder friends, the weather so dreadful I had debated whether or not to lug my camera around, thirty minutes after setting out, I pointed out a couple of warblers to my friends, calling from a tree by the path. Looking at the branches in my binoculars, I panned to the right and suddenly I found this adorable ball of feathers staring at me, and my heart skipped a beat.
I said "Okay, everybody be real quiet, and nobody move". I frantically got my camera out of my backpack while passing over my binoculars and explaining to the others where the owl was. Everybody finally managed to look at it, before it took off to another tree, pursued by the warblers.
We walked for another 8 hours that day, and didn't see a single other bird.
When I was younger, I hardly ever saw owls, and one of the most rewarding benefits of becoming a more serious birder has been the increasing frequency with which I've been able to find them (I've now seen close to a quarter of the world's owls), and every encounter with them has a magic to it, unmatched by practically any other bird, in my opinion. Posted 3 years ago
Any tips for increasing owl spottings? Other than lots of field time at night? Posted 3 years ago
When you're on your own, going out at night is of course the best chance, either just spotlighting with the occasional brief burst of playback, or driving along small country roads . During the day, it's always worth checking dense conifers, like line of cypresses in cemeteries, and paying attention to mobs of pissed off passerines. Really good owlers have a great eye for finding pellets below favored roosting trees, but I've personally never found an owl that way.
And also, I think it's kind of a state of mind. You have to sort of adopt the mindset that you want to look for owls whenever you're out in nature, and eventually you start to realize that they are more common than you originally thought! Also, in my experience, some places are just easier than others. For example, I've seen quite a few owls in Southern Africa without much effort, they just don't seem to hide as much as in other places! Posted 3 years ago
If you're in the western lowlands, Glaucidium peruanum should be quite easy (it's the most abundant and conspicuous owl species I've ever encountered). In the eastern lowlands, Megascops choliba and Glaucidium brasilianum are your best bets if you go out at night.
And if you visit any of the Jocotoco reserves, the guides are quite likely to have good info on their local owls. Posted 3 years ago, modified 2 years ago