Stats

Lifespan

9-15 yrs

Size

Small

Diet

Carnivore

Activity

Cathemeral

Social

Pair

Biome

Temperate grassland

Range

North and South America

Movement

Flight

Breeding

Egg-laying

Defense

Burrowing

Status

Common

About

This small, long-legged owl lives in abandoned underground burrows across the Americas. It mimics the sound of a rattlesnake to scare away predators from its nest.

Life cycle

1. 1.
   egg

   One or two eggs are incubated on a high stick nest or cliff ledge, guarded closely by the pair.
2. 2.
   hatchling

   A downy hatchling is fed torn meat by its parents and grows quickly in a high nest.
3. 3.
   juvenile

   A feathered juvenile fledges from the nest, learning to soar and to make its first kills.
4. 4.
   adult

   Fully grown, hunting on its own with adult plumage.

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Taxonomy

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Chordata

Class

Aves

Order

Strigiformes

Family

Strigidae

Genus

Athene

Species

Athene cunicularia