Lord Howe boobook Lord Howe boobook The Lord Howe boobook ("Ninox novaeseelandiae albaria"), also known as the Lord Howe morepork, was a bird in the true owl family endemic to Lord Howe Island in the Tasman Sea, part of New South Wales, Australia. It is an extinct and little-known subspecies of the Southern boobook ("Ninox novaeseelandiae"). The Lord Howe boobook was similar in appearance to other subspecies of the Southern boobook, being a small brown hawk owl with white-mottled plumage, paler than other subspecies. Measurements taken from museum specimens indicate that it was smaller than most mainland Australian subspecies of boobook but larger
Southern boobook Australia", Gould recognised three species, all of which he placed in the genus "Spiloglaux": "S. marmoratus" from South Australia, "S. boobook", which is widespread across the Australian mainland and Tasmania, and "S. maculatus" from southeastern Australia and Tasmania. Meanwhile, in India, English naturalist Brian Houghton Hodgson had established the genus "Ninox" in 1837, and his countryman Edward Blyth placed the southern boobook in the new genus in 1849. "Southern boobook" has been designated the official name by the International Ornithological Committee. The common name comes from the two-tone call of the bird, and has also been transcribed as "mopoke". William