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
Southern boobook mask. The Tasmanian boobook has been recorded from southern Victoria, with one record from New South Wales. It has darker and more reddish upperparts with brighter white dots, with more prominent white dots and a yellow-brown tinge to the underparts. It has pinkish grey feet and golden eyes. The southern boobook is found across Australia, although is scarce in more arid regions such as western New South Wales, southwestern and western Queensland, much of South Australia away from the coast and interior Western Australia and Northern Territory. In drier areas it is generally found along watercourses such as the Darling