Ninox connivens
Silhouette: Rachel T Mason · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~20%
The barking owl (Ninox connivens) or barking boobook, also known as the winking owl, is a nocturnal bird species native to mainland Australia and parts of New Guinea and the Moluccas. They are medium-sized brown owls and have a characteristic voice with calls ranging from a barking dog noise to an intense human-like howl.
The owl takes its name from its characteristic barking voice. For a short period before 2016, the Red List of Threatened Species referred to this species as the "barking boobook". However, this is not used as a common name in Australia or other English speaking areas in this species' range and has now been corrected to barking owl. The Yanyuwa name for the owl is mulurrku.
The barking owl was first described by the English ornithologist John Latham in 1801 with the binomial name Falco connivens. Latham commented that the species "Inhabits New Holland, but no history annexed, further than that it has a wonderful faculty of contracting and dilating the iris: and that the native name is Goora-a-Gang." The specific epithet is the Latin connivens 'winking'.
There are five subspecies: Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kakadu National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 2 | Nitmiluk National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sydney | 🇦🇺 Australia |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Australia Zoo | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 2 | Healesville Sanctuary | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 3 | Taronga Zoo | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 4 | Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 5 | Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 6 | Moonlit Sanctuary Wildlife Conservation Park | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 7 | Adelaide Zoo | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 8 | Gorge Wildlife Park | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 9 | Featherdale Sydney Wildlife Park | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 10 | Wild Life Sydney | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 11 | Caversham Wildlife Park | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 12 | Central Coast Zoo | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 13 | Ranger Red’s Zoo & Conservation Park | 🇦🇺 Australia |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Barking Owl sighting in Nitmiluk National Park on a given day, based on 16 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 92nd most-seen of the 103 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, and over a week to about 20%, if each day is a fresh chance.
April
In that month about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Barking Owl in Nitmiluk National Park on a given day, against under 5% in March and May–January, the lowest months. That is one of Nitmiluk National Park's driest months, with about 45 mm of rain against 270 mm in January.
Between 6 and 9 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Barking Owl sightings with a recorded time, and about 6 in 10 of them come between 6 pm and 6 am: it is seen both by day and at night.
2nd of 2
Of the 2 parks where we can rate Barking Owl sightings, Nitmiluk National Park ranks 2nd at under 5%. The best odds are in Kakadu National Park (Australia, about 10%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Barking Owl is recorded against all the birds logged in Nitmiluk National Park (16 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
