Southern boobook their upperparts. The tips of their feathers are white and fluffy, remnants of the nestlings' down. These are worn away over time, persisting longest on the head. The feathers of the head, neck and underparts are fluffier overall. Immatures in their second and third year have plumage more like adults, though their crowns are paler and more heavily streaked. On mainland Australia, it could be confused with the barking owl or the brown hawk-owl ("Ninox scutulata"), a rare vagrant to the northwest, although the southern boobook is easily distinguished by its squat posture and distinctive pale border to its face
Ninox novaeseelandiae ocellata southern boobooks may directly correlate with rainfall, with the paler species being found in areas of lower rainfall, indicating the semi arid regions of Australia (the range of the ocellata sub species). The boobook has a very distinctive double hoot ‘boo-book’ with the second note being lower. This call has earned it the common name of ‘mopoke’. Subspecies ocellata tends to inhabit the warmer areas of Australia, from north-western New South Wales/western Queensland spanning across to Western Australia, although it is rarely found in the more arid regions. The boobook is found in a wide variety of habitats, from semi-arid