The Luzon boobook or Luzon hawk-owl (''Ninox philippensis'') is a species of

owl Owls are birds from the order Strigiformes (), which includes over 200 species of mostly solitary and nocturnal birds of prey typified by an upright stance, a large, broad head, binocular vision, binaural hearing, sharp talons, and feathers a ...

in the family

Strigidae The true owls or typical owls (family Strigidae) are one of the two generally accepted families of owls, the other being the barn owls (Tytonidae). This large family comprises 230 living or recently extinct species in 24 genera. The typical owl ...

. It is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

to the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

where it lives in forests. It is a brown and white mottled bird and males and females look much alike.

Description

Ninox philippensis centralis 2004 stamp+card of the Philippines 2

The Luzon boobook is one of the smallest of the owls in the

Philippine hawk-owl The Philippine hawk-owl is a species complex of owls in the family Strigidae. They are all endemic to the Philippines. Description The Philippine hawk-owls are earless. The males and females look much alike. They differ in size and pattern on th ...

complex. It has white eyebrow-like streaks above the eyes and the

beak The beak, bill, or rostrum is an external anatomical structure found mostly in birds, but also in turtles, non-avian dinosaurs and a few mammals. A beak is used for eating, preening, manipulating objects, killing prey, fighting, probing for food ...

and a white moustache forming an x-shape on the head. It does not have tufts of feathers on its head resembling ears. The upper parts of all subspecies are brown and the wings are mottled with oval-shaped white spots. The tail is dark brown with narrow white stripes. The sides of the head are brown, the chin is a whitish colour, while the rest of the underparts are pale white with wide brown streaks which are more prominent on the breast. The underside of the tail is white. The chequered subspecies have these reticulated patterns on the underparts, on the head, the upper parts of the back and the wings. The feet are partially covered with feathers and are pale yellow. The beak is olive.

Systematics and taxonomy

There are three recognised

subspecies In biological classification, subspecies is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (morphology), but that can successfully interbreed. Not all species ...

: * ''Ninox philippensis centralis'' (

Bohol Bohol (), officially the Province of Bohol ( ceb, Lalawigan sa Bohol; tl, Lalawigan ng Bohol), is an island province of the Philippines located in the Central Visayas Regions of the Philippines, region, consisting of the island itself and 75 m ...

Boracay Boracay (; often locally shortened to Bora) is a resort island in the Western Visayas region of the Philippines, located off the northwest coast of Panay. It has a total land area of , under the jurisdiction of three barangays in Malay, Akla ...

Carabao The carabao ( es, Carabao; tgl, Kalabaw; ceb, Kabaw; ilo, Nuang) is a domestic swamp-type water buffalo (''Bubalus bubalis'') native to the Philippines. Carabaos were introduced to Guam from the Spanish Philippines in the 17th century. They ...

Guimaras Guimaras , officially the Province of Guimaras ( hil, Kapuoran sang Guimaras; tl, Lalawigan ng Guimaras), is an island province in the Philippines located in the Western Visayas region. Its capital is Jordan while its largest local government ...

Negros Negros is the fourth largest and third most populous island in the Philippines, with a total land area of . Negros is one of the many islands of the Visayas, in the central part of the country. The predominant inhabitants of the island region a ...

Panay Panay is the sixth-largest and fourth-most populous island in the Philippines, with a total land area of and has a total population of 4,542,926 as of 2020 census. Panay comprises 4.4 percent of the entire population of the country. The City o ...

Semirara Semirara is an island in the Philippines located at in the Caluya archipelago which is situated south of Mindoro Island. It is under the jurisdiction of the town of Caluya of the province of Antique. It is a major site of coal mining in the Phili ...

and

Siquijor Siquijor ( , ), officially the Province of Siquijor ( ceb, Lalawigan sa Siquijor; tl, Lalawigan ng Siquijor), is an island province in the Philippines located in the Central Visayas region. Its capital is the municipality also named Siquijor ...

) * ''Ninox philippensis philippensis'' (

Biliran Biliran, officially the Province of Biliran ( Waray-Waray: ''Probinsya han Biliran''; ceb, Lalawigan sa Biliran; tl, Lalawigan ng Biliran), is an island province in the Philippines located in the Eastern Visayas region (Region VIII). Biliran is ...

, Buad,

Catanduanes Catanduanes (; ), officially the Province of Catanduanes, is an island province located in the Bicol Region of Luzon in the Philippines. It is the 12th-largest island in the Philippines, and lies to the east of Camarines Sur, across Maqueda Cha ...

Leyte Leyte ( ) is an island in the Visayas group of islands in the Philippines. It is eighth-largest and sixth-most populous island in the Philippines, with a total population of 2,626,970 as of 2020 census. Since the accessibility of land has be ...

Luzon Luzon (; ) is the largest and most populous island in the Philippines. Located in the northern portion of the Philippines archipelago, it is the economic and political center of the nation, being home to the country's capital city, Manila, as ...

Marinduque Marinduque (; ), officially the Province of Marinduque, is an island province in the Philippines located in Southwestern Tagalog Region or Mimaropa, formerly designated as Region IV-B. Its capital is the municipality of Boac. Marinduque lies be ...

, Polillo and

Samar Samar ( ) is the third-largest and seventh-most populous island in the Philippines, with a total population of 1,909,537 as of the 2020 census. It is located in the eastern Visayas, which are in the central Philippines. The island is divided in ...

) * ''Ninox philippensis ticaoensis'' ( Ticao)

Ecology

The Luzon boobook can be found in forest areas up to an altitude of above sea level, although they mostly reside in areas below . Its natural

habitat In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...

s are subtropical or tropical moist lowland

forest A forest is an area of land dominated by trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, and ecological function. The United Nations' ...

s and subtropical or tropical moist

montane forest Montane ecosystems are found on the slopes of mountains. The alpine climate in these regions strongly affects the ecosystem because temperatures fall as elevation increases, causing the ecosystem to stratify. This stratification is a crucial f ...

s. The breeding season for this species starts around February utilizing hollows in trees as nesting sites. It feeds on

insect Insects (from Latin ') are pancrustacean hexapod invertebrates of the class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body ( head, thorax and abdomen), three pairs ...

s and small

rodent Rodents (from Latin , 'to gnaw') are mammals of the order Rodentia (), which are characterized by a single pair of continuously growing incisors in each of the upper and lower jaws. About 40% of all mammal species are rodents. They are na ...

Conservation Status

They are locally common within that range and the population size is believed to be stable. The owls face no particular threats, and as a result, the IUCN has listed the group as being of "

least concern A least-concern species is a species that has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as evaluated as not being a focus of species conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wild. T ...

" as it is also tolerant of

secondary forest A secondary forest (or second-growth forest) is a forest or woodland area which has re-grown after a timber harvest or clearing for agriculture, until a long enough period has passed so that the effects of the disturbance are no longer evident. ...

and clearings.

Description

Systematics and taxonomy

Ecology

Conservation Status

References

Further reading