Southern boobook Southern boobook The southern boobook ("Ninox boobook") is a species of owl native to mainland Australia, southern New Guinea, the island of Timor, and the Sunda Islands. Described by John Latham in 1801, it was generally considered to be the same species as the morepork of New Zealand until 1999. Its name is derived from its two-tone "boo-book" call. Eleven subspecies of the southern boobook are recognized, despite evidence that four have calls and genetics distinctive enough to warrant separate species status. The smallest owl on the Australian mainland, the southern boobook is long, with predominantly dark-brown plumage with prominent
Australasian darter but covered in a layer of chalky lime, and become progressively scratched and stained over the incubation period. Australasian darter The Australasian darter or Australian darter ("Anhinga novaehollandiae") is a species of bird in the darter family, Anhingidae. It is found in Australia, Indonesia, and Papua New Guinea. It weighs around 2.6 kg and spans 86–94 cm (34–37 in) in length. John Gould described the Australasian darter as "Plotus novaehollandiae" in 1847. Closely related to American ("Anhinga anhinga"), African ("Anhinga rufa"), and Oriental ("Anhinga melanogaster") darters, the Australasian darter has been classed as a subspecies of the African or African