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Laughing Owls

HOOT-HOOT-HOOT-HOOT-HOOT! The high pitched call of the long lost species echoes through the forest. The owners of the calls can never be heard or seen again because this species has been extinct.
These birds were about 40 cm tall twice the size of New Zealand’s other native owls, it had yellowish-brown striped with dark brown plumages and white faces with dark orange eyes. These native birds were known as laughing owls. The name was adapted from its calls which sounded like someone laughing repeatedly. Laughing owls were also known as whekau (its Maori name), or white-faced owls. Laughing owls belonged to the subspecies called Sceloglaux albifacies.
Fossils proved that laughing owls could be once found throughout only New Zealand, on all three islands: South Island, North Island, and Stewart Island. Their habitat included places that were rocky with low rainfall and also in the forest districts. It is estimated that laughing owls had been in N...

Posted by: Jason Pinsky

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