Southern Boobook

Ninox novaeseelandiae

other names
Mopoke or Spotted Owl

DESCRIPTION

Adults: 250-350mm in length. Female slightly larger than male, colours and markings also more pronounced than males. Upper parts pale to dark brown depending on geographical race, shoulders and back have white spot markings. Flight feathers and tail barred light and dark brown. Underparts dull white mottled and streaked pale to dark brown. The facial disc is indistinct. Feathers on the face are duskier than body colour. Large eyes, orange-yellow in colour, sometimes green-yellow. Bill and cere blue-grey, tipped black. Toes pale to white in mainland subspecies and yellow in Tasmania, claws are black.

Juveniles: Similar to adult but paler in colour and more streaked and spotted.

Common throughout Australia, the Boobook is the smallest and most well known owl in Australia.  It preys mostly on insects, but small birds and mouse-sized mammals are also taken.  The owls habitat is quite varied from dense forests to the desert.  It roosts by day in the dense foliage of a tree. The breeding period is from August to December and it nests in tree hollows high above the ground, which is lined with leaves and twigs, etc.  There are usually between 2 and 3 eggs in a clutch, with the female incubating for about 26 to 33 days, while the male hunts.  Young are fed by both parents, and fledge in approximately 6 weeks.