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13

Sooty Owl (Tyto tenebricosa) Alternate name(s): "Greater Sooty Owl & Lesser Sooty Owl" Race "tenebricosa" Size: 37-50 cm (male 37-43 cm); wing span 0.85-1.15 m Weight: 500-700 g (male), 750-1200 g (female) Race "multipunctata" Size: ca. 33 cm (male), ca. 37 cm (female)

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Similar species

Description     Classification     Distribution     Sightings     Photos     Breeding     Nest     Eggs     Behaviour     Food     Call/s

Physical description Click here for a physical description Sooty Owls are dark, sooty grey, with a prominent, heart-shaped facial mask. The face is light to mid-grey, while the fringe of the facial mask is dark-grey. The front is scalloped dark and light-grey, while the back is all dark-grey, with white spots. The folded wings show a white shoulder patch. The short, sturdy legs are feathered light-grey, with faint darker grey rings. Race "multipunctata" is lighter grey overall than nominate race "tenebricosa" and has more white spots on the back. The irises are black. The bill is light-grey, the talons are dark-grey.

Taxonomy, classification See Greater Sooty Owl at Wikipedia . Click here for classification information We follow the view of Pizzey & Knight in considering the Great Sooty Owl ("Tyto tenebricosa") and the Lesser Sooty Owl ("Tyto multipunctuata") to be conspecific, and will treat the two as two races of the same species below.

Range, habitat, finding this species Click here for information on habitat and range The overall distribution of this species can be assessed, and specific locations where birds have been spotted can be found, based on individual sighting reports submitted by birdwatchers to ebird.org . The global distribution of the Sooty Owl is available HERE . Sooty Owls are found in West Papua, New Guinea and Australia. There are two races of Sooty Owls in Australia. Nominate race "tenebricosa" (the Greater Sooty Owl) occurs from just northward of Brisbane, QLD, along the South-east coastal and near-coastal fringe, all the way to Melbourne, VIC (except Wilson's Promontory). The range of race "multipuncatata" (the Lesser Sooty Owl) is limited to the coastal fringe and the tablelands around Cairns, in tropical northern QLD, from just to the North of the Burdekin River at Townsville to about Cooktown in the North. They also occur on Magnetic Island off Townsville, QLD. Race "tenebricosa" is found in densely vegetated, tall wet forest (often in gullies), while race "multipunctata" lives in tropical rainforest.

Sightings Click here for sighting information Race "tenebricosa" We first spotted a Sooty Owl, nominate race "tenebricosa", in Bunya Mountains NP, QLD, in March 2016. This location is on the north-western edge of the race's range. A bird was seen again on the same roost in June 2017. M. Eaton reports finding the same Sooty Owl, nominate race "tenebricosa", in Bunya Mountains NP, QLD, again in March 2018. M. Eaton also found a Sooty Owl, nominate race "tenebricosa", in D'Aguilar NP, near Mount Mee, QLD, in December 2019.

Photos

Race "tenebricosa"

This race is also called the "Greater Sooty Owl".

ADULT

MALE

Ventral view of a (probably male) Sooty Owl looking down at the observer from its daytime roost
[Bunya Mountains NP, QLD, March 2016]

Overview of the location of a Sooty Owl's roost inside a hollow fig tree
[Bunya Mountains NP, QLD, March 2016]

Having checked out the harmless observer, it is time for the Sooty Owl to snooze again
[Bunya Mountains NP, QLD, March 2016]

Ventral view of a preening Sooty Owl
[Bunya Mountains NP, QLD, June 2017]

Ventral view of a snoozing Sooty Owl (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Bunya Mountains NP, QLD, June 2017]

Call(s)/Song

For this species we have recorded the following call(s)/song. The interpretation of their meaning is our own; comments and suggestions for improvement are welcome.

sootowl_me_20230127.mp3	tenebricosa (SE QLD)	Contact calls	© ME
sootowl_me_20230127_2.mp3	tenebricosa (SE QLD)	Contact calls	© ME
sootowl_me_20230127_3.mp3	tenebricosa (SE QLD)	Contact calls	© ME
sootowl_me_20191219.m4a	tenebricosa (SE QLD)	Contact call	© ME
sootowl_me_20191219_2.m4a	tenebricosa (SE QLD)	Territorial call ("bomb whistle")	© ME

More Sooty Owl sound recordings are available at xeno-canto.org .

These pages are largely based on our own observations and those of our contributors. The structure of these bird pages is explained HERE. For more salient facts on any bird species please refer to a field guide.

Would you like to contribute photos or sound recordings to this site? If interested, please CLICK HERE. Credits to contributors are given HERE.

Disclaimer: Comments are always welcome. We give no guarantee that the information presented on these pages is always correct or up-to-date. External links are marked as such and we take no responsibility for the contents of external pages. All images on this site are protected by copyright & used by permission of the respective owners. If you wish to reproduce them or any of the material presented on this web site, please contact us: We hereby acknowledge the original custodians of the land which is described on these pages, including the Gomeroi/Gamilaraay people of the North-west Slopes and Plains of NSW, and the traditional owners of other lands and nations within this country. We acknowledge elders past, present and emerging. Sovereignty was never ceded.          Last updated: Thu, 2 February 2023, 1:09 +00:00