New Britain Hawk-owl

Taxobox
name = New Britain Hawk-owl
status = VU
status_system = iucn3.1
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Aves
ordo = Strigiformes
familia = Strigidae
genus = "Ninox"
species = "N. odiosa"
binomial = "Ninox odiosa"
binomial_authority = (Sclater, 1877)

The New Britain Hawk-owl or Russet Hawk-owl ("Ninox odiosa") is a small owl with finely spotted plumage, golden eyes and white eyebrows. It's facial disk is brown while the upper breast is marked with a wide brown band with buff or white barrings. The underparsts are densely spotted brown.

This species is found in the lowlands and hills of New Britain and New Ireland Endemic Bird Areas at elevations up to 1200 meters above sea level.

This species is fairly common in its small range and is nocturnal. It roosts during the day alone or in pairs in the middle to upper parts of the forest cannopy. It feeds mainly on insects and small mammals.

Formerly classified as a Species of Least Concern by the IUCN [BLI (2004)] , it was suspected to be rarer than generally assumed. Following the evaluation of its population size, this was found to be correct, and it is consequently uplisted to Vulnerable status in 2008 [BLI (2008)] .

Footnotes

References

*|year=2004|id=48601|title=Ninox odiosa|downloaded=23 May 2008
* (2008): [http://www.birdlife.org/action/science/species/global_species_programme/whats_new.html [2008 IUCN Redlist status changes] . Retrieved 2008-MAY-23.

External links

* [http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/species/index.html?action=SpcHTMDetails.asp&sid=2312&m=0 BirdLife Species Factsheet.]