Cinnabar boobook long tail and narrow pointed wings. The four known records of the species indicate it is a nocturnal forest dwelling species living at mid-altitudes (). Otherwise very little is known of its habits. Based on morphological similarities with owlet-nightjars, Rasmussen suggests the cinnabar boobook may be an insectivore and prey on invertebrates in flight. Cinnabar boobook The cinnabar boobook ("Ninox ios") also known as the cinnabar hawk owl, is a hawk owl endemic to the island of Sulawesi, Indonesia. It was described as a new species to science by American ornithologist Pamela C. Rasmussen in 1999 based on a single
Southern boobook to "N. connivens". Genetic and call analysis show the Christmas boobook ("N. natalis") to be very close to the Australian populations of the southern boobook, leading Gwee and colleagues to suggest it be reclassified within this species. Gwee and colleagues found that boobook populations on larger mountainous islands were more distinct from Australian stock, while those on flatter smaller islands were much more similar, suggesting that these locations were colonised much more recently after previous populations had become extinct. Eleven subspecies of "Ninox boobook" are recognised in version 7.3 of the IOC World Bird List, published in July 2017: The