Brown boobook

The brown boobook (Ninox scutulata), also known as the brown hawk-owl, is an owl which is a resident breeder in south Asia from India, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Nepal east to western Indonesia and south China.

Brown boobook
Brown hawk-owl at Phuket, Thailand
CITES Appendix II (CITES)[1]
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Dinosauria
Class: Aves
Order: Strigiformes
Family: Strigidae
Genus: Ninox
Species:
N. scutulata
Binomial name
Ninox scutulata
(Raffles, 1822)

This species is a part of the larger grouping of owls known as typical owls, Strigidae, which contains most species of owl. The other grouping is the barn owls, Tytonidae.

Taxonomy

The brown boobook was formally described in 1822 by Stamford Raffles from a specimen collected in Sumatra under the binomial name Strix scutulata.[2] The specific epithet is from Latin scutulatus meaning "diamond-shaped".[3] The brown boobook is now placed with the other boobooks in the genus Ninox that was introduced by the English naturalist Brian Houghton Hodgson in 1837.[4][5]

Nine subspecies are recognised:[5]

Description

The brown boobook is a medium-sized owl with a length of 32 cm (13 in). It has a hawk-like shape due to its long tail and lack of a distinct facial disk. The upperparts are dark brown, with a barred tail. The underparts are whitish with reddish-brown streaking, although the subspecies found in the Andaman Islands has dark brown underparts. The eyes are large and yellow. Sexes are similar.[6]

This species is very nocturnal but it can often be located by the small birds that mob it while it is roosting in a tree. It feeds mainly on large insects, frogs, lizards, small birds, and mice. The call is a repeated low soft, musical oo-uk ...ooo-uk... which may be heard at dusk and dawn. This owl is quite common in towns and cities like Colombo, Sri Lanka, as well as suburban areas close to buildings.

Distribution and habitat

The brown boobook is a resident breeder in most of tropical south Asia from the Middle East to south China. Its habitat is well-wooded country and forest. It lays three to five eggs in a tree hole.

There are two records of the brown boobook in the western hemisphere: an individual photographed on St. Paul Island, Alaska, on August 27, 2007,[7] and a dead owl found on Kiska Island in 2008.[8]

References
  1. BirdLife International (2021). "Ninox scutulata". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2021: e.T22725643A200685229. Retrieved 1 March 2022.
  2. Raffles, Thomas Stamford (1822). "Second part of the descriptive catalogue of a zoological collection made in the Island of Sumatra and its vicinity". Transactions of the Linnean Society of London. 13: 277-340 [280].
  3. Jobling, James A. (2010). The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. London: Christopher Helm. p. 352. ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4.
  4. Hodgson, Brian Houghton (1837). "Indication of a new genus belonging to the Strigine family, with description of the new species and type". Madras Journal of Literature and Science. 5: 23–25.
  5. Gill, Frank; Donsker, David; Rasmussen, Pamela, eds. (January 2021). "Owls". IOC World Bird List Version 11.1. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 20 May 2021.
  6. Kennedy, Robert (2000). A Guide to the Birds of the Philippines. Oxford: OUP Oxford. p. 180. ISBN 9780198546689. Retrieved 25 November 2017.
  7. https://www.owling.com/brown-hawk-owl/ Brown Hawk Owl: A Reference for North and Central American Owls
  8. Bond, Alexander & Jones, I.L. (2010). A brown hawk-owl (Ninox scutulata) from Kiska Island, Aleutian Islands, Alaska. 41. 107-110.

Further reading
  • Grimmett, Richard; Carol Inskipp; Tim Inskipp (1999). Birds of India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, and the Maldives. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0-691-04910-6.
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