Photo by Arthur Grosset

Also known as the Cuban Screech Owl.

As you can infer from the name, this little owl doesn’t have any leg feathers. Like the somewhat featherless legged Burrow Owl, this owl primarily eats insects off the ground. Owl leg feathers help reduce wind noise in flight, so that wouldn’t be much advantage to how this owl hunts.

Here’s your can see the Burrow Owl has prickly legs, but they aren’t totally bare. I’ll guess the other leg is equally prickly…

This owl has been bounced around back and forth between a few genuses over the years until getting placed in one if it’s very own in 2008.

The genus Margarobyas comes from the Greek margarites, meaning pearl, and byas, an owl.

From iNaturalist

This name was given as a reference to Cuba’s status as the “Pearl of the Antilles.” The species name, lawrencii, is in honor of George Lawrence.

Lawrence was a ornithologist in the 1800s.and, for now, has 20 species named after him.