Birdwatch: Elfin magic as tiny owl takes first flight in Arizona backyard

Barely the size of a sparrow, the elf owl is just 13-14 cm long, and weighs a mere 40 grams. Photograph: Susan Viera/Alamy

Elf owl (Micrathene whitneyi)

For back yard birding at its best, it’s hard to beat Arizona’s Sierra Vista, home to the Southwest Wings Birding and Nature festival. As many as a dozen different kinds of hummingbird spar like wartime flying aces around the feeders, while Mexican jays utter shrill warning calls at a diamondback rattlesnake lurking below.