The Romblon boobook or Romblon hawk-owl (''Ninox spilonotus''), is a species of

owl Owls are birds from the order Strigiformes (), which includes over 200 species of mostly solitary and nocturnal birds of prey typified by an upright stance, a large, broad head, binocular vision, binaural hearing, sharp talons, and feathers a ...

in the 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 ...

that is

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 ...

. It is only found on the islands of Tablas,

Sibuyan Sibuyan is a crescent-shaped island, the second largest in an archipelago comprising Romblon, Romblon Province, Philippines. Located in the namesake Sibuyan Sea, it has an area of and has a total population of 62,815, as of the 2020 census. Th ...

and

Romblon Romblon (, , ), officially the Province of Romblon, is an archipelagic province of the Philippines located in the Mimaropa region. Its main components include Romblon, an archipelagic municipality of the same name that also serves as the provi ...

. It was previously known as a subspecies of the

Philippine hawk-owl The Philippine hawk-owl is a species complex of owls in the genus ''Ninox''. They are all endemic to the Philippines. Systematics and taxonomy There are seven known species: * Luzon boobook (''Ninox philippensis'') ** '' Ninox philippensis cen ...

, but was reclassified in 2012, as voice and other evidence suggested it was a distinct species. Its natural

habitat In ecology, habitat refers to the array of resources, biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species' habitat can be seen as the physical manifestation of its ...

is tropical moist lowland

forest A forest is an ecosystem characterized by a dense ecological community, community of trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, ...

. It is threatened by habitat loss.

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 rare medium-sized owl of lowland and foothill forest on Tablas, Romblon, and Sibuyan islands. Upperparts, chest, and head dark brown and indistinctly barred. Underparts reddish brown. Note the long whiskers around the face and the bright yellow eyes. Probably the only owl in its range except for Mantanani scops-owl, but Romblon boobook is reddish rather than gray and lacks the black line around the face. Song is a phrase of three notes, 'wik weu-weu', with the second and third being descending rasping notes." The Romblon boobook is an earless species. The males and females are similar in appearance. This species mates around February, nesting in hollow trees. Along with the

Camiguin boobook The Camiguin boobook or Camiguin hawk-owl (''Ninox leventisi'') is an owl species resident to the Camiguin island in the Philippines. It is the only owl in the country with greenish-yellow or grayish eyes. It was previously known as a subspecie ...

and

Cebu boobook The Cebu boobook or Cebu hawk-owl (''Ninox rumseyi'') is a species of owl in the family Strigidae. It is endemic to the Philippines. It was formerly considered a subspecies of the Philippine hawk-owl, but was reclassified in 2012, as voice and o ...

, it is the largest in the

species complex In biology, a species complex is a group of closely related organisms that are so similar in appearance and other features that the boundaries between them are often unclear. The taxa in the complex may be able to hybridize readily with each oth ...

reaching 25 cm tall versus the much smaller

Luzon boobook The Luzon boobook or Luzon hawk owl (''Ninox philippensis''), also Philippine hawk owl or Philippine boobook, is a species of owl in the family Strigidae. It is endemic to the Philippines where it lives in forests. It is a brown and white mottle ...

Mindanao boobook The Mindanao boobook or Mindanao hawk-owl (''Ninox spilocephala'') is a species of owl in the family Strigidae that is endemic to the Philippines on the island of Mindanao. It was previously known as a subspecies of the Philippine hawk-owl, but ...

Mindoro boobook The Mindoro boobook or Mindoro hawk-owl (''Ninox mindorensis'') is a species of owl in the family Strigidae that is endemic to the Philippines. Description EBird describes the bird as "A fairly small owl of lowland and foothill forest and woodl ...

and

Sulu boobook The Sulu boobook or Sulu hawk-owl (''Ninox reyi'') is a species of owl in the family Strigidae. It is endemic to the Sulu Archipelago in the Philippines. It was previously known as a subspecies of the Philippine hawk-owl, but was reclassified i ...

, which range in size from 15 to 20 cm tall.

Subspecies

Two

subspecies In Taxonomy (biology), biological classification, subspecies (: subspecies) is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (Morphology (biology), morpholog ...

are recognized: * ''Ninox spilonotus spilonotus'' (

) – Larger, with a more hiss-like call * ''Ninox spilonotus fischeri'' ( Tablas) – Smaller, with a raspy call

Ecology and behaviour

This species ecology has yet to be properly studied but it is pressumed to have a typical boobook diet of

insects Insects (from Latin ') are hexapod invertebrates of the class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body (head, thorax and abdomen), three pairs of jointed ...

, small mammals, reptiles, amphibians and possibly even birds. Nothing is known about its breeding habits.

Habitat and conservation status

Its natural

s are subtropical or tropical moist lowland

primary forest An old-growth forest or primary forest is a forest that has developed over a long period of time without Disturbance (ecology), disturbance. Due to this, old-growth forests exhibit unique ecological features. The Food and Agriculture Organizati ...

and secondary

s up to an altitude of 1000 metres above sea level. The

IUCN Red List The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is an inventory of the global conservation status and extinction risk of biological ...

classifies this bird as an endangered species with population estimates of 250 to 999 mature individuals. This species' main threat is

habitat loss Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss or habitat reduction) occurs when a natural habitat is no longer able to support its native species. The organisms once living there have either moved elsewhere, or are dead, leading to a decrease ...

with wholesale clearance of forest habitats as a result of legal and

illegal logging Illegal logging is the harvest, transportation, purchase, or sale of timber in violation of laws. The harvesting procedure itself may be illegal, including using corrupt means to gain access to forests; extraction without permission, or from a p ...

mining Mining is the Resource extraction, extraction of valuable geological materials and minerals from the surface of the Earth. Mining is required to obtain most materials that cannot be grown through agriculture, agricultural processes, or feasib ...

and conversion into farmlands through

slash-and-burn Slash-and-burn agriculture is a form of shifting cultivation that involves the cutting and burning of plants in a forest or woodland to create a Field (agriculture), field called a swidden. The method begins by cutting down the trees and woody p ...

and urbanization. This species occurs in protected areas such as

Mount Guiting-Guiting Mount Guiting-Guiting is the highest mountain in the province of Romblon, located in Sibuyan Island, in the Philippines, with an elevation of above sea level. Its steep slopes and jagged peak, have earned it a reputation as one of the most techn ...

but protection is lax and logging still supposedly occurs. Mt Palaupau serves as a watershed for

Tablas Island Tablas is the largest of the islands that comprise the province of Romblon in the Philippines. The name of the island is of Spanish origin. Before the colonization of the Philippines, Tablas was known as the Island of ''Osigan''. At the time of ...

. There is no species-specific conservation program at present.

References

* Kennedy, R.S., Gonzales P.C., Dickinson E.C., Miranda Jr, H.C., Fisher T.H. (2000) ''A Guide to the Birds of the Philippines'', Oxford University Press, Oxford. {{Taxonbar, from=Q2724476

Romblon boobook The Romblon boobook or Romblon hawk-owl (''Ninox spilonotus''), is a species of owl in the family Strigidae that is endemic to the Philippines. It is only found on the islands of Tablas Island, Tablas, Sibuyan Island, Sibuyan and Romblon Island, ...

Endemic birds of the Philippines Fauna of Romblon