Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl (cactus subspecies)

[Walker Noe]

Cactus Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl (Glaucidium brasilianum cactorum), Arizona, December 16, 2018.
The Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl is a small owl that breeds in southern Arizona southward to Central and South America. In the United States, this species is limited to southern Texas, where it can be found on the large bird-friendly ranches, and Arizona. The Arizona "cactus" subspecies has suffered a steep decline in recent years, and was listed as endangered from 1997-2006. This subspecies occupies old woodpecker cavities, and utilizes these cavities as nests. Recent estimates put the population of this bird in Arizona at about 20 individuals.

Given this bird's history and scarcity, it was extremely rewarding to find an occupied nest of this subspecies in 2016, as part of my successful effort to photograph all 19 regularly-occurring owls in the United States in one year. However, I did not get a "classic" photograph of the owl in the saguaro, so to find this individual in a saguaro yesterday with a good friend of mine was pure jubilation, and essentially completed a years-long pursuit of this bird. I do want to return and get him looking directly at me. But I definitely won't complain about getting an image like this of a bird like this, one of my favorites. This appears to be a BPN-first of this subspecies.

I love the feather above and to the right of the hole.

Techs:
Nikon D750
Nikkor 600mm f4 AF-S I (broken, AF is spotty and causes me to miss a lot of shots, I think it's something wrong with the electrical contacts communicating with the camera. It won't autofocus with the 1.4xTC at all)
1/800
ISO 500
f4 (should have gone to f8 or 9, but I was shooting this guy in a busy background and he just flew up into his hole. He remained there for only 30 seconds. I didn't think to change, just reacted.)
tripod mounted