Southern boobook smallest owl on the Australian mainland, the southern boobook is long. The nominate subspecies is the largest. It has short, rounded wings and a short tail, with a compact silhouette in flight. Southern boobooks on the Australian mainland follow Bergmann's rule, in that birds from cooler and more southerly parts of the range tend to be larger. Thus, birds from the Canberra region weigh around while those from the Cape York Peninsula and Broome are around . Females tend to be a little larger and heavier than males, with males weighing and females . The southern boobook has generally dark
Southern boobook grasshoppers, crickets, beetles, cockroaches, moths, wolf spiders, and huntsman spiders were also consumed. A study in Victoria found that larger animals were eaten, including Baillon's crake ("Porzana pusilla"), common ringtail possum ("Pseudocheirus peregrinus") and feral rabbit ("Oryctolagus cuniculus"). Using a fence, branch, or telegraph pole as a perch or vantage point from which to hunt, the southern boobook pounces on prey then retreats to a tree or elevated place to eat it. It often hunts in open areas near trees, and also where prey is likely to congregate, such as mice near haystacks or barns, or flying insects near street-