Barking Owl
Ninox connivens
Barking owls are a ‘hawk owl’ lacking the facial disc of the barn owls. They hunt mainly by sight rather than sound.
They get their name from the distinctive doglike ‘wook-wook’ call and have an alarm call that European settlers believed was the sound of a screaming woman.
Barking owls are found in open eucalypt forests, woodlands and tree-lined waterways.
With as few as 50 breeding pairs in Victoria, their numbers have declined dramatically. Loss of habitat and land degradation are major threats, together with secondary poisoning from baiting regimes.
WHAT THEY EAT
Barking owls tend to hunt at dusk and dawn using sight rather than sound to find their prey. Their diet consists of small to medium mammals, birds, insects and even reptiles.
BREEDING
Barking owls nest in large tree hollows laying 2-3 eggs and breed only once per year.
