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
Morepork have hollows. Although their main hunting technique is perch-and-pounce, they are agile birds with a swift, goshawk-like wing action and the ability to maneuver rapidly when pursuing prey or hawking for insects. They hunt a variety of animals – mainly large invertebrates including scarab and huhu beetles, moths and caterpillars, spiders, grasshoppers, and in New Zealand, wetas. They also take almost any suitably sized prey, particularly small birds, rats, and mice. They can find suitable food in pine forests as well as native forest. A widespread and generally common species, morepork is listed as being a species of least concern