The chocolate boobook (''Ninox randi'') is a

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class (biology), class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the Oviparity, laying of Eggshell, hard-shelled eggs, a high Metabolism, metabolic rate, a fou ...

species in the true owl family,

Strigidae The true owls or typical owls (family (biology), family Strigidae) are one of the two generally accepted families of owls, the other being the barn owls and bay owls (Tytonidae). This large family comprises 230 living or recently extinct species ...

. It was formerly considered to be a subspecies of the brown boobook. It was formerly thought to be

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

to the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

until it was heard and recorded Karakelang in

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

in 1997 but there have been no subsequent records outside the Philippines since.

Description and taxonomy

EBird eBird is an online database of bird observations providing scientists, researchers and amateur naturalists with real-time data about bird distribution and abundance. Originally restricted to sightings from the Western Hemisphere, the project e ...

describes the bird as "A medium-sized owl of lowland and foothill forest and edge. Dark brown on the upperparts and head, with white underparts thickly streaked with reddish-brown. Face grayish and eyes yellow. Occurs together with several other boobook species, but Chocolate is much larger, with plain brown wings and more demarcated streaking on the chest. Voice is also different: a series of identical, medium-pitched “boop!” notes." It is part of the Brown boobook species complex but is differentiated by voice and its body measurements. It is monotypic and has no subspecies.

Ecology and behavior

Diet is unknown but presumed to be the typical boobook diet of insects and small vertebrates. Nothing is known about its breeding habits except a young individual was found in June. It is pressumed to be a cavity nester.

Habitat and conservation status

This species habitat is in primary lowland rainforest, second-growth forest and mangroves up to 1,000 meters above sea level. It is not tolerant of cultivated areas and human habitated areas. IUCN has assessed this bird as

near-threatened species A near-threatened species is a species which has been categorized as "Near Threatened" (NT) by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as that may be vulnerable to endangerment in the near future, but it does not currently qu ...

with the population believed to be declining due to

deforestation Deforestation or forest clearance is the removal and destruction of a forest or stand of trees from land that is then converted to non-forest use. Deforestation can involve conversion of forest land to farms, ranches, or urban use. Ab ...

in the Philippines continues throughout the country due to slash and burn farming, mining, illegal logging and habitat conversion. It is also occasionally caught for the pet trade or for bushmeat. It is found in multiple protected areas such as

Pasonanca Natural Park The Pasonanca Natural Park is a List of protected areas of the Philippines, protected area that preserves a major watershed in the southern Philippines, Philippine island of Mindanao in the Zamboanga Peninsula. It contains the headwaters of the ...

, Rajah Sikatuna Protected Landscape and

Bataan National Park Bataan National Park is a protected area of the Philippines located in the mountainous interior of Bataan province in the Central Luzon Region. Activities in the park include nature viewing, bird watching, and trekking to its several peaks and w ...

but like all areas in the Philippines, protection is lax and deforestation continues despite this protection on paper.

References

External links

* https://web.archive.org/web/20090416051719/http://www.ornitaxa.com/SM/Split/SplitTypicalOwls.htm * http://orientalbirdimages.org/birdimages.php?action=birdspecies&Bird_ID=2759 {{Taxonbar, from=Q1272400 chocolate boobook Endemic birds of the Philippines chocolate boobook chocolate boobook