Professor in Animal Behaviour, Paul McDonald, took these mesmerising photos of UNE’s elusive Barking Owls and provided the explainer below:
Barking Owls (Ninox connivens) are a medium sized owl found in open forest habitats with large tree hollows that are used for nesting. They can cope with a range of different land uses, including well vegetated farmland and even city parks in some parts of their range. The species is sexually size dimorphic, meaning that males are larger than females. This size difference means that males have a deeper pitched call, allowing duetting pairs to be identified by ear. Their calls give the species it’s common name, with the main territorial call being a very dog-like ‘woof-woof’. It’s remarkably similar to a domestic dog bark, confusing many people and indeed some dogs that hear the birds of a late afternoon or evening. During the day the species can be identified by its piercing yellow eyes and larger size relative to the closely related Southern Boobook (N. boobook).
Unfortunately, Barking Owls have experienced significant population declines recently, particularly in the south of their range and here on the New England tablelands. They are now Critically Endangered in Victoria and listed as Vulnerable in NSW. These images are from a pair of birds that has been seen on UNE campus behind St Marks church over the last few years over different periods, most recently much of winter 2024. Unfortunately while the pair were close knit and regularly roosted together, they haven’t progressed to breeding yet. Whilst on campus the birds are feeding on small mammals like gliders and medium-sized parrots.