1. Home
  2. Home
  3. Species Profiles
  4. Little Owl (Athene noctua)

Little Owl (Athene noctua)

Among birdwatchers this small owl has a reputation of being commonly active during the day, perching on a post fully awake, or making a switch from tree to tree with its up-and-down, bounding flight. Yet, curiously it rarely if ever hunts for food by day, even when feeding young. Its normal active times are between dusk and midnight, and then again from 2 a.m. until dawn, and you would think that, when daylight comes, it would be needing its sleep.

The Greeks used to have a phrase translated roughly as “…like Little Owls to Athens”, the equivalent of our “…like coals to Newcastle,” the sense of which is to bring something to a place that already has it in abundance. This bird is indeed very common in the warm climate of Greece, as well as in Spain, Portugal and Italy. Here, with a healthy supply of food and with many natural holes and crevices available for nesting, the Little Owl is in its heartland. Its distribution in northern Europe is patchier, and the intensification of agriculture so prevalent there has set it on the path of severe decline in many areas.

There is a shift in Little Owl ecology north to south, with insects becoming more and more important in warmer climates. Little Owls are particularly fond of beetles, crickets and earwigs, which they usually catch by dropping down to the ground from a low perch. They will also hunt on the ground for earthworms, which they tug out of the ground with such vehemence that, when the worm finally gives way and slips out of the ground, their momentum may cause them to fall over backwards! Besides these staple foods, mammals (especially voles), amphibians and birds may all find their way on to the menu. Most unusually for an owl, the Little Owl also takes a small amount of plant material, including leaves, fruits and berries.

Little Owl

Little Owl (Dave Kjaer)


Pairs of Little Owls tend to remain within their shared territory throughout the year and, indeed, probably for life. They are quite demonstrative about the pair-bond, regularly indulging in bouts of mutual preening, or “allopreening” while perched in close contact; divorces are unusual. In early spring the males defend their borders with a clear, upward inflected hoot, and they then indulge in a brief period of nest-showing. This procedure, which is common among owls generally, involves a male entering several potential nest-holes, looking outside each one questioningly, perhaps nibbling at the interior, and calling to the female outside.