Southern Boobook duo

MAY
Southern Boobook           
(Ninox novaeseelandiae)

Family: Strigidae
Migration: Non-migrant

Distribution:
Mainland Australia and Tasmania, and on some coastal islands. Closely related species are found in Timor, S. New Guinea, New Zealand.

Habitat:
A variety of habitats from dense forest to open desert.

I've just returned from a fleeting visit interstate, to my parents farm in New South Wales. Whilst there I had the chance to sight and hear many birds, from dusty-pink Galahs and little Willie Wagtails to brazen Cockatoos and Emus that think they're goats. A host of farm related images soon, I promise, but first a little pair of owls.

A Year of Southern Hemisphere Birds would not be complete without Australia's littlest and most common owl, the Southern Boobook. Tasmanian Boobooks are apparently smaller in size whilst those of the Cape York rainforests are slightly larger and darker again than their chocolate-brown counterparts. And the young Southern Boobooks are almost entirely white. This nocturnal sweetheart is often mobbed by songbirds if found in the day. (It is also referred to as the Mopoke or Spotted Owl.)

(1, 2, 3, 4. I've enjoyed quickly sharing the Boobook portrait in all its varied stages.)

(Cropped photograph of an actual Boobook by Mike Richardson.)