Bird Album
Northern Boobook
Ninox japonica (Temminck & Schlegel, 1845)
≈33 cmLength225 gWeight
This hawk-like owl has golden-yellow eyes and stoops from a perch to hunt at night.
Busiest months: May and October · Most records: China, South Korea, Thailand
Looks like Brown Boobook
How to identify
Field marks
- Eyes golden-yellow
- Head and face slightly grayish-rufous, with a small white patch above the bill
- Back and wings rufous, tail with pale rufous barring
- Underparts white, with long dark brown streaks from the breast down
Male, female and young
No obvious differences between the sexes.
Voice
Calls only in the breeding season, giving a series of low hoots.
Similar species
Where and when it's recorded
Northern Boobook has been recorded at 229 of the 8,171 birding hotspots we track, in 11 countries and regions.
Records by month Northern Hemisphere
Where it's recorded most
- Nanhui DongtanChina157 records
- Yeliu IBATaiwan (China)110 records
- Po ToiHong Kong (China)70 records
More places
- Seoul – Children's Grand ParkSouth Korea67 records
- Kaohsiung – Qijin VTC TowerTaiwan (China)56 records
- Chuncheon – Namiseom(island)South Korea53 records
- Dongzhai NNRChina51 records
- Matsu – DongyinChina41 records
- Teochew CemeteryThailand36 records
- Happy IslandChina36 records
Countries and regions with the most records
eBird records via GBIF up to 2024-12-31. A record means someone listed it; more records partly mean more birders, not more birds.
About
The northern boobook (Ninox japonica) belongs to the family Strigidae (true owls) and is a raptorial owl endemic to eastern and southern countries of Asia. The species currently includes two subspecies, the migrant Ninox japonica japonica and the non-migrant Ninox japonica totogo.
Excerpt from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0 · authors · Read more on Wikipedia
Questions
How big is the Northern Boobook?
The Northern Boobook is about ≈33 cm long and weighs around 225 g.
Where does the Northern Boobook live?
Its breeding range: Palearctic, Oriental: Russian Far East to Korean Peninsula, Japan and Taiwan (China). It is most often recorded in China, South Korea and Thailand.
When is the best time to see the Northern Boobook?
At the hotspots we track, it is recorded most in May and October (Northern Hemisphere).
Is the Northern Boobook endangered?
The IUCN Red List classifies the Northern Boobook as Least Concern.
What does the Northern Boobook eat?
Main food: Insects & other invertebrates.
What family is the Northern Boobook in?
It belongs to the family Owls (Strigidae), order Strigiformes.
At a glance
- Length
- ≈33 cm
- Weight
- 225 g
- Habitat
- Forest
- Diet
- Insects & other invertebrates
- Lifestyle
- Perches in trees
- Migration
- Migratory
- Conservation
- Least Concern
More measurements
- Wing
- 214 mm
- Tail
- 117 mm
- Bill
- 21 mm
- Tarsus
- 27 mm
Averages from the AVONET dataset; length from field guides where available.
Range
Palearctic, Oriental: Russian Far East to Korean Peninsula, Japan and Taiwan (China)
Breeding range, IOC World Bird List 15.2
Subspecies · 2
- Ninox japonica florensis se Siberia, ne, e China and n Korean Pen. | non-breeding: Greater and Lesser Sundas
- Ninox japonica totogo Ryukyu Is. (Japan) and Taiwan (China)
Classification
- Order
- Strigiformes
- Family
- Owls Strigidae
- Genus
- Ninox
Other birds in the genus Ninox
Rufous OwlNinox rufa
Powerful OwlNinox strenua
Barking OwlNinox connivens
Sumba BoobookNinox rudolfi
Australian BoobookNinox boobook
Rote BoobookNinox rotiensis
Timor BoobookNinox fusca
Alor BoobookNinox plesseni
Tasmanian BoobookNinox leucopsis
MoreporkNinox novaeseelandiae
Brown BoobookNinox scutulata
Hume's BoobookNinox obscura
Download illustration
Free to use with credit: “Illustration: Bird Album (birdalbum.com)”. Drawn by AI from a reference photo by M.Nishimura. ↗
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