Mrs. Plant (v.3.0) suggests that he is a burrowing owl.
I think burrowing owls are bigger.
I found this checklist of Mexican owls, if you go to the bottom there is a list by size.
A lot of them look quite similar, but the closest candidate based on appearance, range & size looks to me to be the Colima Pygmy Owl, 5.1-5.9".
Compare this Colima Owl:
to Crazyhorse’s owl:
https://postimg.org/image/j2bxqivo7/
ETA: Hmm, on second thoughts maybe the head markings are wrong, the Colima Pygmy seems to have more spotty rather than streaked head markings. The Ferruginous Pygmy Owl that Darren mentioned above seems to have closer markings, but the guide I found had it too large at more like 7". Maybe this is a juvenile Ferruginous, old enough to have adult plumage but not fully grown.
Out of range for Quintana Roo - it’s a western species. But you may well have the right species complex. Frankly half of those overlapping Glaucidium’s look much the same to me. Whether it is a Northern Pygmy Owl or a Ferruginous Pygmy Owl or in the Least Pygmy Owl group like your Colima, it looks like experienced neotropical birder territory to sort them ;).
Colibri needs to find this thread.
Google “borrowing owl” and you get “burrowing owl”.
Try it. 
I believe that we have a translation error here.
I have sent out the call.
OP, Any news today on the little guy?
Yes. The vet that I want isn’t available until tomorrow so Woodsy and I have an appointment at 1:00 PM.
Since he isn’t displaying any outward signs of illness or distress I didn’t want to take a chance on some quack making his problems worse and it is very hard to find a good vet here. But we have one of the best - when he’s available.
I think the wildlife care manager at Audubon is probably on to something with the suggestion that his flight feathers were clipped. It didn’t even occur to me until speaking with her despite being aware that people do that. I don’t know exactly what to look for and she said I would need to send her some very specific photos for her to be able tell online. That might stress him out, so it would be better just to get him to the vet and find out there.
She kindly put me in touch with the director of the International Wildlife Rehabilitation Council so I now have people in the US, Europe, Mexico and Belize all looking for the best rehab to be found in this area if it turns out he is going to need rehab before he can be released. I’m really hoping its just flight feathers that will grow back and I can put him out in his native jungle here.
Even they haven’t come up with a definitive answer as to his species. What a time for **Colibri **to take a day off from his sworn duty as curator of critters!
In the mean time he is eating very well. I never did get whole mice but she said for a very short term chicken and cat food are just fine. He would need calcium supplements on that diet if it is for more than a few days, but we will see what the vet says tomorrow.
Thanks again everyone for all the help and advice! Will post an update post-vet tomorrow.
Does he stretch his wings out at all? Flap? It’s actually pretty easy to tell if the primaries are cut. If he opens his wings at all, you’d be able to see it. I’ll see if I can find any good pictures online to share.
If he does open his wings, and you can snap a picture, we’d be able to tell you.
You’re doing an awesome thing. Thank you for taking care of Woodsy.
The only time I’ve ever seen him extend them was when I tried to release him and it was pretty dark. In the cage he just perches with his wings folded back flat and doesn’t seem to flutter them around while perched like I’ve seen some birds do.
But to give him the best possible chance of releasing him successfully he spends most of the day in a quiet dark corner with a towel over most of the cage and is getting as little interaction with me as possible. I change his paper and water and replace the chicken a la Crazyhorse ever few hours and other than that, we don’t know each other. Tempting as it is to get to know him I know that is not in his best interest.
Tomorrow at the vet will probably be the most interaction I’ve ever had with him so I will try to get a picture then.
A few sites with images that show clipped wings:
I don’t think you need to worry too much about him bonding to you or becoming people dependent due to your interactions. As a rule, owls and hawks don’t roll that way. Also, if people dependency were to happen, it sounds like the damage would have been done by earlier parties. I think keeping him quiet is prudent, but you needn’t worry overly much that you are making things harder for him at this point. Very much the opposite from what I can tell.
Oh if it’s *that *obvious then now I’m not so sure. I think I would have noticed a big deficit in feathers like that. I thought it was a subtle thing the way she described it. But it was dark and I didn’t know I was looking for that. As small as he is to begin with maybe they were like that and I didn’t notice.
You’re probably right about the bonding. But also just for his health in case he actually is seriously injured or sick I’m trying to give him as little stimulus of any kind as I possibly can until we know. They said that owls are very stoic about injuries as a survival mechanism so if he was really hurt I still probably wouldn’t know it.
If it turns out he is going to need some kind of longer term rehab that I can do here, we are definitely going to interact a lot more.
I’ve read the thread up to this point, and it’s all pretty much correct.
It’s an adult, probably in that Pygmy group. It isn’t an adult plumage bird that is still growing. Owls are as big as they’ll ever be when they leave the nest. And this one left the nest some time ago, then subsequently molted into this plumage.
Size can be tricky. First, there is sexual dimorphism – girls are bigger than boys. And individual variation – some are just bigger or smaller than the average.
They are capable and powerful predators that can handle mice, shrews, lizards, snakes, frogs, bats, and small birds along with insects. They’re mostly opportunistic but may learn specialization on certain prey if there is a local abundance.
The vet will be able to settle the wing clip question with finality. But, clipped or not, the bird seems to have trouble with flight. Long term captivity confined to a small cage will result in deterioration of the flight muscles. Or there may be traumatic damage – broken bones and/or joint injuries. Medical attention may be necessary. Afterward, or immediately if no medical treatment is needed, the bird needs exercise conditioning in a large flight cage (like 12 feet by 6 feet by 6 feet).
Conditioning should also be employed even if the only problem determined is a clip job. This is because the bird needs to maintain its condition and stamina while the feathers molt out. This could take 6 to 12 months. There is a technique (“imping”) in which feather tips from a deceased bird are trimmed then glued into the feather stubs, to create ‘new’ feathers. If anyone there is familiar with imping, and has a dead owl handy, this would get a clipped bird up and flying sooner.
You’ve done well so far, keep up the good work!
Maybe some of the tests for the maturity of cheese would be applicable…
Any news on Woodsy today?
Very bad news I’m afraid. They kept him at the vet for now, and said it doesn’t look good. As I feared things were much worse than they seemed, and he was being stoic. He is malnourished to the point of near starvation and even though he’s eating ravenously now it might not be enough to make up for lost time. They also found that one of his legs had been broken and was allowed to just mend by itself. (I really hate our species)
For what it’s worth his wings aren’t broken or clipped. He probably couldn’t fly from weakness, lack of practice and exercise and the leg injury doesn’t help, although that alone shouldn’t prevent him from flying or surviving in the wild if he can get past the rest.
They are giving him high nutrient food and an electrolyte solution, but said not to get my hopes up. I’m heartbroken even though I sort of expected this.
Sad news.
I’ll hope for the best.
Sounds like this was a confiscation from illegal possession. We get those too. Amateur and/or indifferent care commonly causes problems like these. Luckily, owls are resilient. Medical evaluation and a quality diet are the first step and the bird should respond quickly, provided the starvation didn’t cause significant organ failure. Once these critical problems are overcome the bird will need the services of a wildlife rehabilitator to condition it and evaluate its readiness for release to the wild. This can be a lengthy process with a highly deteriorated animal, but in competent hands it has a good likelihood of success.
Thanks for your insight, CannyDan. OP, good on you for persevering and getting the little fella the help he needed.
We have a great rehabber up here, O.W.L ( Orphaned Wildlife Rescue). Perhaps you could contact them for info on a rehab near you. I’m in Vancouver so unless you can get here, they can’t do much directly! They do have a website though.
Good luck!