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
Morepork single species. Examining both morphological and genetic (cytochrome "b") characters, Michael Wink and colleagues concluded that the southern boobook was distinct from the morepork, as was the Tasmanian boobook, which should be raised to species status as "Ninox leucopsis". Four subspecies of "Ninox novaeseelandiae" are recognised by the IOC, two of which are extinct: The morepork is long, with female slightly larger than the male. She is slightly heavier, too, at 170-216 g compared with the male's 140-156 g. The morepork has generally dark brown head and upperparts, with pale brown spots on head and neck and white markings on