Australian Masked Owl - BirdForum Opus

Male
Photo by Corwin
Tasmania, Australia

Tyto novaehollandiae

Includes: Tasmanian Masked-Owl

Identification

35-47cm

• White facial disk
• Short brown feathers around dark brown or black eyes
• Upperparts blackish brown with grey and white spots
• Underparts white with brown spots
  

Female: similar but rather darker

Distribution

Australia and extreme southeast New Guinea.

Taxonomy

Female
Photo by Corwin
Tasmania, Australia

Subspecies^[1]

• T. n. calabyi:

• Trans-Fly lowlands of southern New Guinea and Daru Island

• T. n. melvillensis:

• Northern Australia (Melville Island and Bathurst Island)

• T. n. galei:

• North-eastern Queensland (north-eastern Cape York Peninsula)

• T. n. kimberli:

• Northern Australia (Yampi Peninsula to Atherton Tableland)

• T. n. novaehollandiae (perplexa):

• South-western Western Australia to Victoria and north-eastern Queensland (Townsville)

• T. n. castanops:

• Tasmania, Maria Island and Maatsuyker Island - sometimes accepted as full species, Tasmanian Masked-Owl

Habitat

Open forests.

Behaviour

Nocturnal.

Diet

They have a varied diet which includes rodents, reptiles, birds, insects and small mammals such as bandicoots.

Breeding

The usual nest site is in a tree hole lined with sand or soil. Two or three eggs are laid and are incubated by the female.

References

1. Clements, JF. 2008. The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to December 2008. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0801445019.
2. Wikipedia

• List of references

Recommended Citation

• BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Australian Masked Owl. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 26 December 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Australian_Masked_Owl

External Links

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