Australian Boobook — Australian Bird Identification Guide

Bird guideAustralian Boobook

Australia's smallest and most common owl, with a distinctive two-note 'boo-book' call that gives it its name.

⚠️Not listed

At a glance

FamilyOwls

SizeMedium

RarityCommon

HabitatIn northern and central Australia, Mayr found that the colour of the plumage appears to correlate with the rainfall or humidity, paler birds being found in three disjunct areas, each around 1,600 km (990 mi) away from the other two: the western Kimberley and Pilbara, Sedan on the Cloncurry River, and around Ooldea, with darker birds found on Cape York and Melville Island.

Best timeMost reliable in Victoria from September to January.

Sounds

Sound sample

0:000:00

Recorded by Marc Anderson

Range map

Occurrence window

5720visible hotspots

51833visible records

6states

Low confidenceMediumHigh confidence

Aggregated occurance data is sourced from 14 different actively-updating datasets including eBird Australia, iNaturalist Australia, BirdLife Australia, and multiple state-based bird surveys through Atlas of Living Australia.

Species notes

Overview

Small brownish owl with dark ‘glasses’ surrounding eyes. Plumage and size varies depending on region with some subspecies exhibiting much darker plumage than others. Fairly common in a wide variety of habitats. Similar to Morepork, and range overlaps in winter in southern Victoria; Southern Boobook is larger, lighter, and has less extensive spotting.