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  Profile

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  In flight

Owls

Little Owl

Athene noctua

• common
• 28 km/h
• Starter
• Least Concern

Athena's owl, sacred to ancient Greece. Now delivers messages from old farmyard walls.

Population

5,000,000–15,000,000 individuals

Habitat

Open agricultural land, orchards, steppe, semi-desert, and rocky/urban ruins

Fun fact

The Little Owl was sacred to the Greek goddess Athena and was stamped on ancient Athenian coins as early as 500 BC, a symbol of wisdom that persists in the species' scientific name.

Range

Temperate and warm Europe, North Africa, and the Palearctic east to Korea; introduced to Britain and New Zealand

Diet

Opportunistic carnivore: insects and earthworms plus small vertebrates (mice, voles, small birds, amphibians, reptiles)

Size

0.22 m

Wingspan

0.56 m

Lifespan

16 years