Also called the “Shoco”, Athene cunicularia is a long legged, underground dwelling, daytime hunting owl. At about 8-10 inches tall with a 21 inch wing-span and weighing around 4-7 ounces they’re a little bigger than our Western Screech Owl and the females are slightly smaller than the males, which is unusual with raptors. While tiny and cute, they are fearsome hunters of invertebrates and small vertebrates and rely on sparse and open treeless areas where burrowing creatures like ground squirrels, prairie dogs and badgers create suitable diggings. Due to loss of habitat and other human influences, their numbers have steadily declined in the last century and are no longer believed to breed in Sonoma County.
