The piercing, descending shriek of the Lesser Sooty Owl Tyto multipunctata sounds much like a falling bomb, without the explosion at the end. It has enormous eyes and exceptional hearing, allowing it to hunt in almost total darkness.
It is a formidable rainforest predator of almost all the creatures I have posted at this weblog over the past few years.
Formerly classified as a sub-species of the much larger and darker Sooty Owl Tyto tenebricosa, it has since been re-classified into a distinct species that is endemic to Australia.
Jennifer Marohasy BSc PhD has worked in industry and government. She is currently researching a novel technique for long-range weather forecasting funded by the B. Macfie Family Foundation.
Genetic work suggest current Sooty taxonomy isn’t valid – there should be either 1 or 3 species – and it looks like 1 species is most appropriate. See http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=1691145