Cuban Pygmy Owl

Posted bySarahPosted inAnimals, Art, Painting, water color paintingTags:, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

 

I don´t know about you but I just love owls!

They are beautiful, very smart, perfect hunters and like me, squint in the daylight. 😉

In the modern West they´re usually associated with wisdom, a link that goes back at least as far as to Ancient Greece where the goddess Athena had the owl as one of her major symbols.

In modern Japan, owls are regarded as lucky and are carried in the form of a talisman or charm. (I often wear a couple of lovely owl earrings by the way. 😉 )

In some African cultures on the other hand, owls are viewed as harbingers of bad luck, ill health or even death.

 

My water color painting shows you a Cuban Pygmy Owl, which is a very tiny owl species (their average length is about the size of a human hand) that is endemic to Cuba and that often breeds in holes formerly used by woodpeckers.

 

Cuban Pygmy Owl (Kubakauz) Kopie 2
Cuban Pygmy Owl (water color on paper; March 2018)

 

 

Do you like owls or not? And why? And what else do you know about them? Please feel free to share as many tidbits as you like! 🙂

 

 

P.S. Since Tuesday I´m suffering from trouble with my internet provider but hope this will be solved soon. Which is why it might take a bit to catch up with all your lovely blogs since I never know when or for how long my connection will be stable!

 

Published by Sarah

Artist & Illustrator

93 thoughts on “Cuban Pygmy Owl”

    1. Thank you! I never know which look I prefer though – the piercing “I´m coming and get you little mouse!”-look or the dreamy “Why on earth did you wake me?!” glare. 😉 This one seems to be a little perplexed at all the lovely attention it gets! 🙂

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    1. Thank you very much, dear Dina! 😃💕 My arm’s a bit better now, thank you for remembering! But it has become a chronic condition sadly which means I will always have to take care not to overdo it – which really is hard when you’re having the best of fun with all those colours and brushes – lol! 😄 Have a wonderful and creative weekend! xoxo ❤

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  6. Your owl is lovely and I would love to see one. I adore owls and we have a variety around us. Little Screech owls and the Great Horned Owl who stands about 2 ft tall. He has a very deep woo woo and the little critters scramble to get under our deck when they hear him…

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    1. Thanks so much, Kerry! Yes, I remember you telling us of that Great Horned Owl and how it makes the little critters scramble to get under your deck in one of your posts – poor critters, I totally get why they don´t like owls at all!

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  7. I do love owls and your art is lovely, Sarah! Owls remind me of wisdom…those wise old creatures are lovely. My only worry is for my kitty Midnight, so I try to keep her indoors at night so those wise old creatures won’t try to bite. 🙂 xo

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  8. Beautiful painting, Sarah. I can’t believe how small that owl is to fit in a woodpecker hole. How adorable. We have a pair of Great Horned Owls that live in our woods and call to each other at night. Sometimes they’re so close to the house that they wake us up. Combined with the yipping coyotes, it’s magical. I’m a big owl fan too. 🙂

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  9. Your Cuban Pygmy is too adorable! He looks so inquisitive & is brimming with life!

    I LOVE owls too! From the larger Snow Owls (so majestic!) to the smaller Eurasian Pygmies (they looks sooooo funny!). The owl exhibit was my favourite growing up when we visited the Bird Park.

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  10. Hi Sarah
    Excellent execution of the Cuban Pygmy Owl. you are so talented my friend! We are kindred spirits…I too have a fascination for the owl. I remember owning an owl pendant not too long ago. So interesting to learn about the their symbolic meaning in different cultures.

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  13. This is lovely Sarah. I thin you have really captured what makes owls seem so interesting and special; an intelligence and curiosity, especially in the eyes and the tilt of the head. Beautiful. 😀 xxxxx

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  14. Yes, I’m an owl lover – I love their silent flight, their huge all-seeing eyes, their swiveling heads and surely I do believe them to be wise and good (though if I was a mouse I might not be quite so keen!). As an aside, I waved to you from the foothills of the Bavarian Alps the other day – I was there for just 3 days and my husband pinpointed Berlin with is compass for this important moment! 👋 xxxxxxxxx

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    1. I knew I felt a wave of warmth and love coming from the south the other day! 😄 How sweet of you! Hope you had a lovely time together!
      Yeah, better not be a mouse when it comes to owl loving – lol! Though that would maybe make for an interesting story!! 😁
      Have a glorious day, Fiona! Much love! xxxxxxxxxxx

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  15. Indeed magnificent creatures, as well as your paint! Beautiful and to me also representative of wisdom.
    Ah, if there is one reason we would move back to The Netherlands it would be internet-connection….Good luck on that!
    Big hug, XxX

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  17. I love your little owl! We have an owl that lives in our neighborhood, and I hear it almost every night. I rarely actually see it, but I still love knowing it is nearby. (And you have my sympathies regarding the internet connection! Hope it is fixed soon.)

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  18. Sarah, ahhh…. this is beautiful, the tiny owl wonderfully captured in your painting and full of emotion, tenderness and love. His expression is so moving, inquisitive, searching but still vulnerable. I just love this!! I’ve never heard of Pygmy owls and enjoyed learning a bit about them! Happy Painting, my friend! Xxx 😀❤️🌺. ps. Thank you so much for your wonderful comment about my son’s music, it meant a lot to him!

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    1. Aww – thank you so much, Annika! I’m so glad that you like it! 😊💕
      There’s an amazing amount of different owl species and I’m having such fun picking them out and paint them. 😄
      Have a wonderful week ahead dear friend! Xxx ❤

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  19. Sweet drawing you have done of the owl. I have a couple in the woods behind my home. I hear them at dusk talking to each other while the bullfrogs sing in the rain. It’s such a lovely chorus. Can’t see them but hearing is enough for me. Hope your internet problems are resolved. So frustrating. Have a wonderfilled week.

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  22. I love owls! And it’s so interesting how they mean different things across cultures. I absolutely love your watercolour of the pygmy owl- it’s so cute!! ❤ And I hope your internet gets fixed soon! Have a good weekend!

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  23. Hi Sarah, your owl is beautiful beyond words. I love owls, too, even more so after seeing Harry Potter. 🙂 There’s something magical about them, their eyes, and their curiosity. They’re simply fascinating. My son bought me a sterling silver owl necklace a couple of years ago that I wear now and then. I also hope your internet gets resolved soon. That’s not fun to deal with either. Have a wonderful weekend, my friend. ❤🦉

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    1. Thank you so much, Lauren! That necklace sounds so lovely! What a beautiful and thougtful gift from your son! Ah, Harry Potter! Who didn’t dream of having their own Hedwig?! 😁 I certainly do! Happy Sunday, dear friend! 😊💖

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  24. Beautiful painting Sarah, you have given that owl so much charachter. Brilliant. I would like to see more of owls as I can hear some here but rarely see
    any. They are too me sort of mysterious looking.
    We have of course the wise but sort of ‘ full of himself’ owl in Winnie the Poh,
    that is such a good charachter too.
    miriam

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    1. Thank you so much, Miriam! I guess you would have to go owl “hunting” at night to be more lucky. Though with their perfect hearing they might be long gone before you can get anywhere near enough! 😂 Oh, yes, the owl in Winnie the Pooh is quite the character! 😁
      Have a beautiful Sunday and I will keep fingers crossed for you that you will spot an owl soon! ❤

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  25. Nice job on this owl Sarah. I really like owls. The last two years, we’ve attended an owl show at the local nature center in the fall. It’s an hour long talk on owls and they have 6 or so owls that they bring out. All of them were somehow injured and now live with caretakers and help educate people. Cheers!

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  27. +1. I like Owl too. I always like to see them in real life. It is hard to spot them. I have few pictures of owls that came out in the afternoon. Too bad that I could only take the pictures from the far away.

    Your owl picture is awesome. I like the eyes – so alive!

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  28. Thank you for introducing this species of owl to me, Sarah! Your painting is lovely and the colour is soft and delicate… yes, the eyes of this bird are particularly impressive! Great piece of art. 😃 ❤

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  29. I like owls, although some of them can be surprisingly noisy. I’m sorry to hear about your internet connection and hoping it is promptly fixed. My previous supplier nearly drove me to distraction when mine went wrong. It’s only when problems arise that you truly understand their level of customer service.

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  31. Beautiful painting Sarah…your owl has that inquisitive look on his face and it is one of the marvels of nature…so intriguing how a bird got the responsibility of knowing all and still having that quest of knowing more! 🙂

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    1. Thank you very much for your thoughtful comment, dear Balroop! Yes, they are a true marvel of nature – perfect hearing and incredible sight compared wig the ability to fly almost without making any sound.
      Have a lovely weekend! ☺

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  34. Love your owl watercolor. “What are you waiting for?” the eyes says, knowing the depth of my soul. “You can make a difference.”

    I have a six-year-old friend and neighbor who adores owls. She has a large collection of owl toys in all colors and designs.

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  37. Your water color is beautiful, Sarah! It expresses exactly what I love about owls, they seem so curious. When my mother was little, she had an owl outside of her bedroom window that always scared her. Have a great weekend!

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    1. Thanks so much, Jill! I really am in love with their big inquisitive eyes, always looking, always searching. But I can well understand that your mother was scared of the one outside her bedroom window when she was little, I would probably have felt the same!
      Wish a beautiful weekend too! ❤

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  38. Personally, I love owls. Some people think that ancient myths notwithstanding, they are not that intelligent. Great hunters they are, however. In most Native American cultures they are respected but to see one right outside your home is bad luck. Especially if you are a mouse. Beautiful artwork, this is the first I have heard of the Cuban pygmy owl.

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    1. Thank you so much, Oglach! And I had to laugh so much when I read about the mouse – you´re right about them not wanting to see any owl gathering around their home! I´m now imagining mouse-lore containing of stories for their kids, trying to make them fearful of the big fat owl hovering outside, ready to take their lives any second…
      I think most, if not actually all Native American cultures respect nature and animals and I´m not surprised that the owl is no exception to this. What I didn´t know though is that they also think of it as bad luck when one´s right outside your home.

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