Sooty Owl

The Sooty Owl is a distinctive dark member of the barn owl family found in rainforest and wet eucalypt forest along the eastern Australian coast and in parts of New Guinea. Its deep sooty gray-black plumage, finely speckled with silvery white, sets it apart from all other owls sharing its range.

Like other Tyto owls it possesses a heart-shaped facial disc, though it is proportionally large and pale against the dark body plumage, giving the bird a striking appearance. It favors dense, wet forest with tall trees for nesting hollows and is considered a good indicator of high-quality, undisturbed forest habitat.

Its call is unusual among owls, often described as resembling a falling bomb, a distinctive descending whistled scream that carries well through dense forest.

Size and shape

Large feathers from a bird 35-45 cm long, with the broad, soft-edged flight feathers typical of silent-flying barn owls, and a heart-shaped facial disc.

Color and pattern

• Ground color is deep sooty gray to blackish, notably darker than any other owl in its range.
• Feathers are finely marked with small silvery-white speckles, giving a frosted appearance.
• The facial disc is pale gray-white, contrasting strongly with the dark body.
• Shafts are dark gray.

Distinguishing from similar species

Compared to the Australian Masked Owl, Sooty Owl feathers are considerably darker and grayer, with fine silvery speckling rather than the browner tones and coarser white spotting of the masked owl. The overall sooty, frosted look is distinctive and not easily confused with any other Australian owl.

Adults are deep sooty gray to blackish overall, finely speckled with silvery white, with a pale gray-white heart-shaped facial disc. Females tend to be darker and larger than males. Juveniles are paler and downier, gradually darkening with age. Molt follows breeding on an annual cycle typical of barn owls.

This species is restricted to rainforest and wet eucalypt forest along the eastern Australian coast from Queensland to Victoria, with a separate population in New Guinea. It is resident and closely tied to tall, structurally complex forest with abundant nesting hollows.

Sooty Owls hunt small to medium mammals, particularly arboreal species such as gliders and possums, located using acute hearing in the darkness of dense forest. They nest in large tree hollows and depend on mature forest structure. The call is a distinctive descending whistled scream, often likened to a falling bomb, quite unlike the hoots of many other owls. When identifying a feather, look for the deep sooty gray-black ground color with fine silvery-white speckling, distinct from the browner tones of other barn owl relatives in the same region.