The
brown boobook (
Ninox scutulata), also known as the
brown hawk-owl, is a typical owl species. It has dark brown upperparts, whitish underparts with reddish-brown streaking, and a barred tail. It is a resident breeder in India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, southern China and western Indonesia.
Taxonomy: The brown boobook was formally described in 1822 by Stamford Raffles from a specimen collected in Sumatra under the binomial name
Strix scutulata. The specific epithet is from Latin
scutulatus meaning "diamond-shaped". The brown boobook is now placed with the other boobooks in the genus
Ninox that was introduced by Brian Houghton Hodgson in 1837.
Nine subspecies are recognised:
- N. s. scutulata (Raffles, 1822) in the Malay Peninsula, Riau Archipelago, Sumatra and Bangka Island
- N. s. hirsuta (Temminck, 1824) in south India and Sri Lanka
- N. s. lugubris (Tickell, 1833) in north, northeast, central India and Nepal
- N. s. borneensis (Bonaparte, 1850) in Borneo and north Natuna Islands
- N. s. burmanica Hume, 1876in northeast India to south China, Indochina and Thailand
- N. s. isolata Baker, ECS, 1926 in Car Nicobar
- N. s. javanensis Stresemann, 1928 in west Java
- N. s. palawanensis Ripley & Rabor, 1962in Palawan
- N. s. rexpimenti Abdulali, 1979 in Great Nicobar Island
The brown boobook is a medium-sized owl with a length of . 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.
The call is a repeated low soft, musical
oo-uk ...ooo-uk.. .
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, and a dead owl found on Kiska Island in 2008.
The brown boobook is common in towns and cities like Colombo, Sri Lanka, as well as suburban areas close to buildings.
Behaviour and ecology: The brown boobook is 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. which may be heard at dusk and dawn.