brown boobook

The brown boobook was formally described in 1822 by Stamford Raffles from a specimen collected in Sumatra under the binomial name Strix scutulata.{{ cite journal | last=Raffles | first=Thomas Stamford | author-link=Stamford Raffles | date=1822 | title=Second part of the descriptive catalogue of a zoological collection made in the Island of Sumatra and its vicinity | journal=Transactions of the Linnean Society of London | volume=13 | pages=277-340 [280] | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/755026 }} The specific epithet is from Latin scutulatus meaning "diamond-shaped".{{cite book | last=Jobling | first=James A. | year=2010| title=The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names | publisher=Christopher Helm | location=London | isbn=978-1-4081-2501-4 | page=352 }} 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.{{ cite journal | last=Hodgson | first=Brian Houghton | year=1837 | title=Indication of a new genus belonging to the Strigine family, with description of the new species and type | journal=Madras Journal of Literature and Science | volume=5 | pages=23-25 | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/46442146 }}{{cite web| editor1-last=Gill | editor1-first=Frank | editor1-link=Frank Gill (ornithologist) | editor2-last=Donsker | editor2-first=David | editor3-last=Rasmussen | editor3-first=Pamela | editor3-link=Pamela Rasmussen | date=January 2021 | title=Owls | work=IOC World Bird List Version 11.1 | url=https://www.worldbirdnames.org/bow/owls/ | publisher=International Ornithologists' Union | accessdate=20 May 2021 }}

Nine subspecies are recognised:

• N. s. lugubris (Tickell, 1833) — north, northeast, central India and Nepal
• N. s. burmanica Hume, 1876 — northeast India to south China, Indochina and Thailand
• N. s. hirsuta (Temminck, 1824) — south India and Sri Lanka
• N. s. isolata Baker, ECS, 1926 — Car Nicobar
• N. s. rexpimenti Abdulali, 1979 — Great Nicobar Island
• N. s. scutulata (Raffles, 1822) — Malay Peninsula, Riau Archipelago, Sumatra and Bangka Island
• N. s. javanensis Stresemann, 1928 — west Java
• N. s. borneensis (Bonaparte, 1850) — Borneo and north Natuna Islands
• N. s. palawanensis Ripley & Rabor, 1962 — Palawan (west Philippines)

The brown boobook is a medium-sized owl with a length of {{cvt|32|cm}}. 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.{{cite book|last1=Kennedy|first1=Robert|title=A Guide to the Birds of the Philippines|date=2000|publisher=OUP Oxford|location=Oxford|isbn=9780198546689|page=180|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fPDxk551AhkC&q=Brown+hawk+owl&pg=PA180|access-date=25 November 2017|language=en}}

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.

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,https://www.owling.com/brown-hawk-owl/ Brown Hawk Owl: A Reference for North and Central American Owls and a dead owl found on Kiska Island in 2008.Bond, Alexander & Jones, I.L. (2010). A brown hawk-owl (Ninox scutulata) from Kiska Island, Aleutian Islands, Alaska. 41. 107-110.

File:Ninox scutulata MWNH 0647.JPG|Eggs, Collection Museum Wiesbaden

File:Brown Hawk Owl (Ninox scutulata) at Samsing, Duars, West Bengal W IMG 5936.jpg|Brown boobook at Samsing in Darjeeling district of West Bengal, India.

File:Brown hawk-owls couple.jpg|alt=Brown boobooks couple|Brown boobook couple, Thattekad Bird Sanctuary, Kerala, India

{{Reflist}}

• {{Cite book

| publisher = Princeton University Press

| isbn = 978-0-691-04910-6

| last = Grimmett

| first = Richard

| author2=Carol Inskipp

| author3=Tim Inskipp

| title = Birds of India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, and the Maldives

| location = Princeton, N.J.

| year = 1999

}}

• [https://ebird.org/species/brnhao1/ Photos, audio and video of brown hawk-owl] from Cornell Lab of Ornithology's Macaulay Library

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brown boobook

Category:Birds of Indomalaya

brown boobook