The West Solomons owl (''Ninox jacquinoti''), also referred to as the West Solomons boobook, is a small to medium-sized owl, measuring in length. Its upperparts are rusty brown, sometimes spotted or barred with white, its chest is buffy white, sometimes spotted or barred with brown, and its creamy belly is unmarked. It has a grayish-brown facial disc, edged by narrow white eyebrows and a band of white across the throat. When he first described the species in 1850,

Charles Lucien Bonaparte Charles Lucien Jules Laurent Bonaparte, 2nd Prince of Canino and Musignano (24 May 1803 – 29 July 1857), was a French naturalist and ornithologist. Lucien and his wife had twelve children, including Cardinal Lucien Bonaparte. Life and career ...

assigned it to the genus ''

Athene Athena or Athene, often given the epithet Pallas, is an ancient Greek goddess associated with wisdom, warfare, and handicraft who was later syncretized with the Roman goddess Minerva. Athena was regarded as the patron and protectress of va ...

''. It was later reclassified in the genus '' Ninox'', which contains many other small owls found throughout the

Indo-Pacific The Indo-Pacific is a vast biogeographic region of Earth. In a narrow sense, sometimes known as the Indo-West Pacific or Indo-Pacific Asia, it comprises the tropical waters of the Indian Ocean, the western and central Pacific Ocean, and the ...

, but later phylogenetic studies have found it to group within the genus ''Athene.'' The

specific epithet In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...

honors

Charles Hector Jacquinot Charles Hector Jacquinot (4 March 1796 – 17 November 1879) was a noted mariner, best known for his role in early French Antarctic surveys. Biography Nevers-born Jacquinot served with Jules Dumont d'Urville in the Mediterranean, and as an e ...

, a French explorer who spent considerable time in the Pacific. Its

common name In biology, a common name of a taxon or organism (also known as a vernacular name, English name, colloquial name, country name, popular name, or farmer's name) is a name that is based on the normal language of everyday life; and is often contrast ...

refers the Solomon Islands, on which it occurs. It is native to the western portion of

Solomon Islands archipelago The Solomon Islands (archipelago) is an island group in the western South Pacific Ocean, north-east of Australia. The archipelago is in the Melanesian subregion and bioregion of Oceania and forms the eastern boundary of the Solomon Sea. The ...

, where it is found in tropical or subtropical moist forests in lowlands and foothills, up to an altitude of above sea level. Subspecies on Guadalcanal, Malaita, and Bauro & Makira have been found to be distinct species, and split as the Guadalcanal owl (''N. granti''), Malaita owl (''N. malaitae''), and the Makira owl (''N. roseoaxillaris'') respectively. Together, they were collectively known as the

Solomons boobook The Solomons boobook has been split into the following species: * West Solomons owl, ''Athene jacquinoti'' * Guadalcanal owl, ''Athene granti'' * Malaita owl, ''Athene malaitae'' * Makira owl, ''Athene roseoaxillaris'' {{Animal common name ...

. It is

nocturnal Nocturnality is an animal behavior characterized by being active during the night and sleeping during the day. The common adjective is "nocturnal", versus diurnal meaning the opposite. Nocturnal creatures generally have highly developed sens ...

, hunting primarily insects and small

vertebrate Vertebrates () comprise all animal taxa within the subphylum Vertebrata () ( chordates with backbones), including all mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish. Vertebrates represent the overwhelming majority of the phylum Chordata, ...

s. By day, it roosts either in a cavity or in the main fork of a tree. Although the global population has not been quantified, it's reported to be widespread and common within its restricted range. The population trend appears to be stable, though small numbers of both adults and juveniles are known to be taken from the wild to serve as pets.

References

Athene (bird) Endemic birds of the Solomon Islands Owls of Oceania Least concern biota of Oceania Birds described in 1850 Taxa named by Charles Lucien Bonaparte Taxobox binomials not recognized by IUCN {{Strigiformes-stub