Bird Guide

Australian Boobook vs Morepork

Australian Boobook (Ninox boobook)

Australian Boobook

Ninox boobook

Medium282 gForest

The smallest owl on the Australian mainland, the Australian boobook is 27 to 36 cm (10.5 to 14 in) long. The nominate subspecies is the largest. It has short, rounded wings and a short tail, with a compact silhouette in flight. Australian 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 300 g (11 oz) while those from the Cape York Peninsula and Broome are around 200 g (7.1 oz).

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Sonogram of the Australian Boobook
Recorded by James Ray · Call, song, frog calls · Faulconbridge, Blue Mountains City Council, New South Wales, Australia · CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: Patrick_K59 · CC BY 2.0
Morepork (Ninox novaeseelandiae)

Morepork

Ninox novaeseelandiae

Medium183 gForest

The morepork is 26 to 29 cm (10 to 11.5 in) long, with the female slightly larger than the male. Females are slightly heavier at 170–216 g (6.0–7.6 oz) compared with the male's 140–156 g (4.9–5.5 oz). The morepork has generally dark brown head and upperparts, with pale brown spots on head and neck and white markings on the rest of the upperparts, with a pale yellow-white supercilium (eyebrow), dark brown ear coverts, and buff cheeks. The eyes are yellow to golden-yellow. The feathers of the chin and throat are buff with dark brown shafts. Voice: Moreporks have multiple distinct vocalisations. The "more-pork" call for which they are named is heard most frequently, but other vocalisations include a high pitched yelping call, a whistling call similar to kiwi, and a lower pitched "quork-quork" rumbling call. As many as 11 distinct calls have been observed by researchers.

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Sonogram of the Morepork
Recorded by craig wilson · Call · North West Bay, Marlborough District, Marlborough, New Zealand · CC BY 4.0
Photo: Peter de Lange · CC0

Where you might meet both

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Photos and recordings are credited to their authors under the licence shown. Full profiles: Australian Boobook and Morepork.