Laughing Owl Ninox albifacies Scientific name definitions

38–47 cm; ca. 600 g. Medium-sized terrestrial owl with broad head, short wings, long tail and long legs. Forehead, sides of head and throat grayish-white with black feather shafts; facial mask white to light rufous, obvious but with ill-defined edges; upperparts rufous-brown, streaked dark brown, and with whitish to ochraceous feather edges; scapulars and wing-coverts dark brown, streaked and spotted yellowish-white; tail dark brown, barred yellowish-white; underparts deep ochraceous, broadly streaked dark brown; bill grayish horn; eyes very dark red-brown or hazel; legs feathered pale ochraceous; toes light brown, covered with dark hairs. Juvenile undescribed.

Laughing Owl had 10 functional primaries (numbered distally, p1–p10), 13-14 secondaries (numbered proximally s1–s11 and including three tertials, t1–t3 distally), and 12 rectrices (numbered r1–r6 on each side of the tail). Owls are diastataxic (1 Bostwick, K. S., and M. J. Brady (2002). Phylogenetic analysis of wing feather taxis in birds: macroevolutionary patterns of genetic drift? Auk 119(4):943–954. Close ), indicating that a secondary has been lost evolutionarily between what we now term s4 and s5. See Molts for molt and plumage terminology. Sexes were likely alike in all plumages and definitive appearance likely was assumed at the Second Basic Plumage. The plumage sequences of Laughing Owlare poorly known but may parallel those of the congeneric Morepork (Ninox novaeseelandiae) of New Zealand; the following descriptions are based on those of Higgins (2 Higgins, P., Editor (1999). Handbook of Australian, New Zealand and Antarctic Birds. Volume 4. Parrots to Dollarbird. Oxford University Press, Melbourne, Australia. Close ).

Natal Down

Described as yellowish-white and "sparsely covered" (Buller 1888 in 2 Higgins, P., Editor (1999). Handbook of Australian, New Zealand and Antarctic Birds. Volume 4. Parrots to Dollarbird. Oxford University Press, Melbourne, Australia. Close ) but down in most owls is thick.

Juvenile (First Basic) Plumage

Body feathers largely dark brown, those of the head and neck with narrow white tips, those of the uppertail coverts with diffuse cream bars, and those of the underparts with paler brown fringes yielding indistinctly streaked appearance. Facial disc similarly colored to that of later plumages. As in many other owls, juvenile body feathering in Ninox is filamentous, rather down-like, but upperwing coverts and flight feathers are pennaceous as in later plumages, with patterns to primary coverts, remiges, and rectrices as in Definitive Basic Plumage but feathers likely narrower and more rounded or tapered at the tips.

Formative Plumage

Formative Plumage in Laughing Owllikely differed from Definitive Basic Plumage primarily by the retention of worn, juvenile wing and tail feathers. Some juvenile outer upperwing coverts may have been retained, contrasting with fresher replaced formative inner coverts. Retained juvenile tertials likely were narrower and more worn than in Definitive Basic Plumage, and juvenile remiges and rectrices likely averaged narrower, more tapered or rounded at the tips, and more worn (faded brown) than Definitive Basic feathers. Molt clines absent among remiges (see Definitive Basic Plumage).

Definitive Basic Plumage

Forehead, sides of head and throat grayish white with black feather shafts; facial disc white to light rufous, obvious but with ill-defined edges; upperparts rufous-brown, streaked dark brown, and with whitish to ochraceous feather edges; scapulars and upperwing coverts dark brown, streaked and spotted yellowish white; tail dark brown, barred yellowish white; underparts deep ochraceous, broadly streaked dark brown.

Definitive Basic Plumage likely was distinguished from the Formative Plumage by having upperwing coverts uniform in quality and coloration, without contrast between inner and outer feathers; primary coverts broader and darker with fewer and less distinct bars; outer primaries broader, more truncate, and relatively fresher; basic rectrices averaging broader and may have shown fewer pale bars on average. Molt clines present among remiges following molt sequences, whereby outer primaries are fresher than inner primaries and similar clines among the secondaries occur from s1 to s4, s5 inward, and the tertials outward, with secondaries among s8-s9 often the freshest (see Molts and Figure 98 in 3 Pyle, P. (2022). Identification Guide to North American Birds. Part I, Second Edition. Slate Creek Press, Forest Knolls, CA, USA. Close ).

General

Molt and plumage terminology follows Humphrey and Parkes (4 Humphrey, P. S., and K. C. Parkes (1959). An approach to the study of molts and plumages. Auk 76(1):1–31. Close ) as modified by Howell et al. (5 Howell, S. N. G., C. Corben, P. Pyle, and D. I. Rogers (2003). The first basic problem: a review of molt and plumage homologies. Condor 105:635–653. Close ). Molt strategies in Laughing Owl are unknown (2 Higgins, P., Editor (1999). Handbook of Australian, New Zealand and Antarctic Birds. Volume 4. Parrots to Dollarbird. Oxford University Press, Melbourne, Australia. Close ) but likely similar to those of Morepork (Ninox novaeseelandiae), which exhibits a Complex Basic Strategy (cf. 5 Howell, S. N. G., C. Corben, P. Pyle, and D. I. Rogers (2003). The first basic problem: a review of molt and plumage homologies. Condor 105:635–653. Close , 6 Howell, S. N. G. (2010). Molt in North American Birds. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Boston, MA and New York, NY, USA. Close ), including a partial preformative molt and complete definitive prebasic molts but no prealternate molts (2 Higgins, P., Editor (1999). Handbook of Australian, New Zealand and Antarctic Birds. Volume 4. Parrots to Dollarbird. Oxford University Press, Melbourne, Australia. Close ).

Prejuvenile (First Prebasic) Molt

Complete, in the nest, as in other owls.

Preformative Molt

Likely partial, including body feathering and at least some upperwing coverts, often most to all lesser and median coverts but no to a few greater coverts. Juvenile primary coverts, remiges, and rectrices likely retained.

Definitive Prebasic Molt

Likely complete or perhaps occasionally incomplete. Primaries in Morepork reported to molt sequentially from proximal-most feather (p1) and proceed distally to p10 (2 Higgins, P., Editor (1999). Handbook of Australian, New Zealand and Antarctic Birds. Volume 4. Parrots to Dollarbird. Oxford University Press, Melbourne, Australia. Close ) but in other small owls centers have recently been recorded at p2-p3 from which molt proceeds bilaterally (3 Pyle, P. (2022). Identification Guide to North American Birds. Part I, Second Edition. Slate Creek Press, Forest Knolls, CA, USA. Close ); study needed in Ninox owls. Secondaries in owls (including Morepork) are replaced proximally from s1 and s5 and distally from the tertials. Synchronous molt of rectricies has been reported in Ninox and other small owls (2 Higgins, P., Editor (1999). Handbook of Australian, New Zealand and Antarctic Birds. Volume 4. Parrots to Dollarbird. Oxford University Press, Melbourne, Australia. Close ; see also 7 Mayr, E., and M. Mayr (1954). The tail molt of small owls. Auk 71(2):172–178. Close ) but in some birds rectrix molt may be rapid and proceed distally (r1 to r6) on each side of tail, with some variation in sequence possible.

Following based on Higgins (8 Higgins, P. J., Editor (1999). Handbook of Australian, New Zealand and Antarctic Birds. Volume 4. Parrots to Dollarbird. Oxford University Press, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Close ).

Bill and Cere

Grayish horn.

Iris and Facial Skin

Very dark brown or bright hazel; orbital ring gray.

Tarsi and Toes

Legs and feet reddish brown covered with dark hairs; claws grayish horn with black tips.

Formerly in the monotypic genus Sceloglaux, considered possibly closest to Uroglaux and Ninox, but now assigned to Ninox. Geographical variation questionable, and size differences perhaps clinal; population on the North Island sometimes recognized as subspecies rufifacies.

Monotypic.

Formerly occurred in mainly southern half of North Island in areas of lower rainfall, in South Island east of Southern Alps but well into mountains, and on Stewart Island.

Rocky valleys and cliffs in open country and temperate woodland; also scrub and forest edge.

Unknown; thought to be resident.

Earthworms (Lumbricidae), insects, and small vertebrates such as birds, bats, rodents, frogs and lizards. Thought to have hunted mainly on ground, also from low shrubs and lower parts of trees; probably nocturnal and crepuscular.

Main call a loud, repeated coo-ee or kee-wee; laughing call prolonged cack-cack-cack.

Little known. Laying late August–October. Nest in dry crevice among rocks or under boulders, cavity sometimes lined with dry grass, sedges, roots, etc. Usually two eggs, incubated by female; chick hatched in coarse yellow-white down.

EXTINCT. Once common and widespread. Decline, rapid after ca. 1880 but first noticed in 1840s, coincided with settlement by Europeans, and was probably brought about by combination of habitat change and introduced predators (mustelids and domestic cats), along with human persecution. Species often claimed to have been extinct by 1914, when last specimen found dead, but alleged sightings or auditory records persisted until as late as 1950, and egg fragments found in South Island (Canterbury) in 1960 (9 Williams, G. R. and M. Harrison (1972). The Laughing Owl Sceloglaux albifacies (Grey, 1844), a general survey of a near-extinct species. Notornis 19(1):4–19. Close ). Occasional reports from Stewart Island (1970s) and South Island (1980s) have not been subsequently confirmed. Although causes of extinction not known, habitat modification brought about by grazing or burning a distinct possibility, and predation by introduced mammals also likely to have been involved (9 Williams, G. R. and M. Harrison (1972). The Laughing Owl Sceloglaux albifacies (Grey, 1844), a general survey of a near-extinct species. Notornis 19(1):4–19. Close ).