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Sooty Owl
(Tyto tenebricosa)
: "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 |
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Physical description |
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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.
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Taxonomy, classification |
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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.
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Range, habitat, finding this species |
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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.
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Sightings |
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Click here for sighting information
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.
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Photos |
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Race "tenebricosa"
This race is also called the "Greater Sooty Owl".
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ADULT |
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MALE |
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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]
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Call(s)/Song |
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For this species we have recorded the following call(s)/song. The
interpretation of their meaning is our own; are welcome.
More Sooty Owl sound recordings are available at
xeno-canto.org
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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.