Bird of the day
Sulu boobook
Ninox reyi
The Sulu boobook or Sulu hawk-owl (Ninox reyi) is a species of owl in the family Strigidae. It is endemic to the Sulu Archipelago in the Philippines. It was previously known as a subspecies of the Philippine hawk-owl, but was reclassified in 2012, as voice and other evidence suggested it was a distinct species. It is found in tropical moist lowland forest. It is threatened by habitat loss.
EBird describes the bird as "A fairly small owl of forest on the Sulu Islands. Uniformly barred, with brown upperparts and head, orange-brown underparts, white speckling on the wing, a broken pale bar behind the shoulder, a pale belly, long whiskers around the face, and yellow eyes. Note the white throat patch. Probably the only owl in its range except for Mantanani scops owl, but Sulu boobook is rufous rather than gray and lacks the black line around the face. Voice includes strange clucking notes starting with a rapid series ending in three slower notes: 'kukukukukuku klok-klok-klok'."
Among the species complex, this owl is unique with its call of a series of clucks rather than the typical screeching of the other Philippine hawk-owls in the species complex. It is distinguished by the heavy barring on its head and belly, white throat-patch and facial disk.
It is medium-sized at 20 cm tall, along with the Mindoro boobook within Philippine hawk-owl species complex. This is in between the larger Camiguin boobook, Romblon boobook and Cebu boobook at 25 cm and the smaller Luzon boobook and Mindanao boobook, which are 15 to 18 cm tall.
Aliases
Ninox reyi