LUZON HAWK-OWL
Ninox philippensis
Family Strigidae

Bird # 294 - June 2011

This is a Philippine endemic. It is listed in the Kennedy guide as Philippine Hawk Owl, common in forest and forest patches. There are different races: reyi and spilonota  are the largest while philpppensis, spilocephala, and mindorensis are the smallest. The other races are proxima, ticaoensis, centralis. Their patterns and voice also differ. Each race is found in a different province. The Kennedy guide says that "there may in fact be 2, 3 or more species represented in this group. The whole Philippine Hawk-Owl complex is currently under review".Just recently these owls have been split from the Philippine Hawk Owl.


Luzon Hawk Owl is now made up of three subspecies.
Ninox philippensis centralis (Bohol, Boracay, Carabao, Guimaras, Negros, Panay, Semirara and Siquijor)
Ninox philippensis philippensis (Biliran, Buad, Catanduanes, Leyte, Luzon, Marinduque, Polillo and Samar)
Ninox philippensis ticaoensis (Ticao)
The Luzon Hawk Owl has all-streaked underparts and plain crown.

We have seen it nesting in a tree cavity.

On a personal note we first saw a Luzon Hawk Owl in Laguna.