Thanks Guys :O)
Tea Loving Dave I will take your word for that - his owner mentioned that they are sometimes called Morepork owls (always makes me think of terry pratchett) - he's called Rockstar and is quite a character!
Thanks Guys :O)
Tea Loving Dave I will take your word for that - his owner mentioned that they are sometimes called Morepork owls (always makes me think of terry pratchett) - he's called Rockstar and is quite a character!
The confusion arises due to the fact the two *were* deemed conspecific until about 10 years ago, when the subspecies were promoted to full species level.
And I always think of Discworld when I hear about the species too - I'd love it if a true Morepork population were to come into European collections as they are pretty attractive birds.
in Australia the names morepork and mopoke are also used for the boobook (and also very commonly for the tawny frogmouth, under the mistaken idea that it is the frogmouth which makes the boobook's calls).
In NZ the only names used are morepork and ruru (the latter being the Maori name).
Boobook, mopoke, morepork and ruru are of course all onomatopoeic, from the characteristic two-note call.
