Brown Boobook

The brown boobook, or brown hawk-owl, is a medium-sized owl about 32cm long with a hawk-like shape, thanks to its long tail and lack of a distinct facial disc. The upperparts are dark brown and the tail barred, the underparts whitish with reddish-brown streaks, and the eyes large and yellow. The sexes look alike. The Andaman form has dark brown underparts. Its call is a repeated, low, soft and musical oo-uk (Wikipedia, general species account).

It lives in well-wooded country and forest across tropical South Asia to south China and western Indonesia, and is also common in towns and suburbs close to buildings. It lays three to five eggs in a tree hole. It is nocturnal, but its roost can often be found by the small birds that mob it, and it may be heard at dusk and dawn. It feeds mainly on large insects, frogs, lizards, small birds and mice. SoIB 2023 lists it as a resident forest bird in India but gives no trend or priority (Wikipedia, general species account; SoIB 2023).