This email responds to a series of sub threads on lurida. Murray Lord asked: “If the lurida subspecies does abut other forms without any significant introgression, then surely lurida deserves to be split under the biological species concept?…. I wonder if anyone has looked into their calls?” I do not have all the literature to hand, but…. I think the “Red Boobook Owl” or “Northern Boobook Owl” Ninox lurida has been regarded as a separate species in the past. I can’t recall where, but possibly the RAOU Checklist 1926 and/or Cayley’s “What Bird is That?”. Apparently Mathew’s 1916 treated it as a separate species under the name N. boweri, which is a junior synonym to lurida. It was treated as a subspecies of N. novaeseelandiae by Peters (Checklist of the birds of the world), Mees (1964: Zool. Verh. 65: 1-62), Condon (1975: Checklist of the Birds of Aust, Part 1, RAOU), and a subspecies of N. boobook by Schodde & Mason (1981: Nocturnal Birds of Australia, Landowne Press) and Schodde & Mason (1997: Zool. Cat. Aust. 35.2). I doubt that Mees or Schodde & Mason (1981) would have kept it lumped if they could find no evidence of introgression, but I can’t recall what they said, and haven’t got ready access to them. David Hollands was suffieciently impressed that he planned to give lurida a chapter of its own in “Birds of the Night” (1991). Unfortunately he didn’t get the footage. I’ve not heard of a study on the calls. Might not resolve much. I bet the calls are more different between males and females within a taxon than between taxa within each sex, so a statistically significant difference could be hard to find. Still, you never know. Martin Cachard wrote: “My lurida records go as far south as the Wallaman Falls Rd, which is north of Paluma. My nothern limit personally is only as far north as Mt Lewis, but they must occur for sure well to the north up onto the northern Windsor Tablelands – how far north they get to, I’m not sure, but they could be as far north as Big Tableland I would say, or even to Mt Amos or Mt Cook nearer to Cooktown – I’m sure others can add their personal observations to this…”
According to Storr (1984: Revised List of Qld Birds, Rec. WAM Suppl. 19) lurida occurs from Mt Amos (S of Cooktown) to Mt Spec (Paluma). Storr did not recognise ocellata in Qld (nor in his WA checklists, for the record). The farthest north I recall seeing it is Mt Windsor. Incidentally, no Wet Tropics birds actually go as far south as Mt Spec and no farther. Those that make it to Mt Spec all go at least as far as Mt Cataract (Black River) at the s. end of the Seaview Range, just w. of Townsville, and most go a bit farther s. (but that’s a different thread). Martin Cachard also wrote: “I have on a number of occasions, seen pale orange-breasted streakyy Boobooks in cleared farmland that was formerly rainforested, adjacent to where lurida occurs in neighbouring rainforest” These sound more like ocellata than boobook, though it’s hard to be certain. Chris Sanderson provided links to some interesting shots of rainforest ninox owl from Paluma: Jeff Davies has already replied that he doesn’t think they look like pure lurida. I tend to agree, especially due to the extensive white around the face. It’s not a typical ssp boobook either, and definately not ocellata. However, I wouldn’t conclude that lurida intergrades with boobook on that evidence alone. Nevertheless, Chris’s shots did help trigger a little more of my woeful memory. I do recall seeing birds similar to this around Paluma and the edge of the range (a km or 2 east of Paluma) on occasions when I lived in Townsville between 1989 and 2002. At first I thought they were lurida. The general consensus amongst Townsville birders at the time was that they were lurida. However, over time I saw birds that were a bit paler, further down the range, and also around the crest of the range, a few km further west (but still in rainforest). Then there were some birds that were obviously paler. But never any that were completely convincing of lurida like seen at the Atherton Tablelands. After a while I wasn’t sure that pure lurida occurred at Paluma at all (though they might). It’s note worthy that Paluma largely lacks the sharp ecotonal boundaries between farmland and rainforest as found for e.g. on the Atherton Tablenands. For decades the rainforest has been marching out as understorey beneath the tall wet schlerophyl country to the west. This graduating landscape might suit an intermediate bird a little better. Another returning memory In about 1991 I had a brief look at the skins of Boobooks in the Aust. Mus in Sydney. There are 1 or 2 skins from either Washpool or Dorrigo that are small and dark, not quite like lurida, rather like some of the things I saw at Paluma. This made me wonder whether lurida might be some sort of ‘eco-type’ rather than a subspecies. Convergent evolution is far more plausible, however. I meant to go looking for those NSW beasts, but I must have got side tracked. From: Murray Lord
Jeff and David,
If the lurida subspecies does abut other forms without any significant introgression, then surely lurida deserves to be split under the biological species concept?
It’s an issue that’s interested me for a while. When I was visiting Dave Stewart I asked him to play me his calls of lurida. The only one he had (from Mt Lewis I think) did sound a little different, but that may well just have been the effect of the call having to travel through dense vegetation. I wonder if anyone has looked into their calls?
Cheers
Murray ===============================
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