CreatureData

Rufous owl

Ninox rufa (Gould, 1846)

LCLeast Concernowls

The rufous owl (Ninox rufa) is a species in the family Strigidae, order Strigiformes. Recorded adults weigh 819.5 g to 1.09 kg. Source checklists list it for 1 country: Australia. Its IUCN Red List status is Least Concern.

Rufous owl (Ninox rufa)
Photo: Lip Kee Yap from Singapore, Republic of Singapore · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Quick facts about the rufous owl

Weight
819.5 g – 1.09 kgsrc for Weight
Length
Not recorded
Wingspan
1.15 msrc for Wingspan
Lifespan
Not recorded
Diet
Carnivoresrc for Diet
Main food
Not recorded
Habitat
forestsrc for Habitat
Egg incubation
37 dayssrc for Egg incubation
Young per litter or clutch
2src for Young per litter or clutch
Lifestyle
Perchingsrc for Lifestyle
Migration
Partialsrc for Migration
Conservation status
Least Concern (IUCN)src for Conservation status
Countries on record
1 countrysrc for Countries on record

How big is the rufous owl?

RUFOUS OWL · WINGSPAN 1.15 MADULT HUMAN · HEIGHT 1.7 M
At 1.15 m, the recorded maximum wingspan of the rufous owl is about 68% of the height of an adult human (1.7 m, a fixed reference used for scale).

Where does the rufous owl live?

Countries where Catalogue of Life checklists list the species. Many checklists carry no country data, so the list is often incomplete. It is not a range map.

The rufous owl is listed for 1 country.

Australia
  • Listed
  • Not listed
small islands are not drawn at this scale

The same countries as a list

  1. Australia

Listed by: ITIS (scope: global), through the Catalogue of Life.

What is the rufous owl?

Quoted from WikipediaCC BY-SA 4.0

The rufous owl (Ninox rufa), also known as the rufous boobook, is a species of owl in the family Strigidae. It was described in 1846 by John Gould, an English ornithologist. Its common name reflects the rufous-coloured feathers that these owls are covered with in adulthood. While it is uncommon, the species has a wide range, including Australia, Indonesia, and Papua New Guinea.

The rufous owl is a large owl species, ranging in weight from 700 to 1,700 g (25 to 60 oz), depending on sex and age. It is only slightly smaller than the largest owl in Australia, the powerful owl (Ninox strenua), which typically weighs between 1,050 and 1,700 g (37 and 60 oz). The rufous owl is a generalist nocturnal predator and generally solitary. It is seldom aggressive to humans except in situations in which it feels its nest or offspring are threatened.

From the Wikipedia article “Rufous owl” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Rufous_owl&oldid=1322972288), by Wikipedia contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). This block is kept separate from our own text.

Is the rufous owl endangered?

The rufous owl is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List: it is not currently at risk of extinction.

  1. LCLeast Concern
  2. NTNear Threatened
  3. VUVulnerable
  4. ENEndangered
  5. CRCritically Endangered
  6. EWExtinct in the Wild
  7. EXExtinct

Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Least Concern species.

How is the rufous owl classified?

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. phylumChordata
  3. classAves
  4. orderStrigiformes
  5. familyStrigidae
  6. genusNinox
  7. SpeciesNinox rufa (Gould, 1846)

Synonyms Athene rufa

Other names and names in other languages (35)
  • Rufous boobookEnglish
  • Rufous boobookEnglish
  • nínox rogencCatalan
  • sovka velkáCzech
  • sovka ryšaváCzech
  • gwalchdylluan gochlydWelsh
  • Rødbrun HøgeugleDanish
  • RostkauzGerman
  • Roter BuschkauzGerman
  • rufa nizostrigoEsperanto
  • Nínox rojizoSpanish
  • viir-haugaskakkEstonian
  • raitahaukkapöllöFinnish
  • Ninoxe rousseFrench
  • riđa ćukušaCroatian
  • rozsdás héjabagolyHungarian
  • Punggok merahIndonesian
  • Gufastore rossiccioItalian
  • アカチャアオバズクJapanese
  • rusvoji aštrianagė pelėdaLithuanian
  • rustfalkugleNorwegian Bokmål
  • Rosse ValkuilDutch
  • Rosse BoeboekuilDutch
  • sahulugleNorwegian
  • sowica maskowaPolish
  • coruja-ruivaPortuguese
  • coruja-gavião-ruivaPortuguese
  • Рыжая иглоногая соваRussian
  • sovka hrdzaváSlovak
  • Riđi bubukSerbian
  • rödbrun spökugglaSwedish
  • Kızıl BubukTurkish
  • сова-голконіг рудаUkrainian
  • 棕鷹鴞Chinese
  • 棕鹰鸮Chinese

Catalogue of LifeWikipediaiNaturalistWikidataIUCN Red List

Relatives of the rufous owl

Other species in the same genus Ninox.

LC, Least Concern
Morepork (Ninox novaeseelandiae)

Morepork

Ninox novaeseelandiae

Strigidae

CompareRufous owl vs Brown boobookRufous owl vs MoreporkRufous owl vs Powerful owlRufous owl vs Barking owl

Common questions

Answered only where our data holds the answer.

How big is the rufous owl?

An adult rufous owl weighs 819.5 g – 1.09 kg and has a wingspan of 1.15 m, according to values recorded on Wikidata.

Where does the rufous owl live?

Catalogue of Life checklists list the rufous owl for 1 country: Australia. Checklist coverage is uneven, so the true range may be wider.

Is the rufous owl endangered?

The rufous owl is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, meaning it is not currently at risk of extinction.

What kind of animal is the rufous owl?

The rufous owl (Ninox rufa) belongs to the family Strigidae in the order Strigiformes.

Sources and how to cite this page

Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.

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APA

CreatureData. (2026). Rufous owl (Ninox rufa). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/rufous-owl

MLA

“Rufous owl (Ninox rufa).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/rufous-owl.

BibTeX
@misc{rufous_owl_2026,
  title = {Rufous owl (Ninox rufa)},
  author = {{CreatureData}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/rufous-owl},
  note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}