Home range size and territorial calling of the Southern Boobook Ninox novaeseelandiae in adjacent territories

Adjacent nesting home ranges of four radio-tagged Southern Boobooks (Ninox novaeseelandiae) were studied in a Canberra, Australia, woodland over 418 observation nights during four breeding seasons. Spatial locations and bouts of territorial calling (⿿boobook calls�) were recorded during each observation night. Home ranges and core areas were computed from the spatial locations using minimum convex polygons and characteristic hull polygons. Home-range sizes varied by individual owl, between breeding seasons, and by estimation method, ranging from 18.1 to 205.8 ha. Core-area estimates varied from 0.2 ha to 19.6 ha, indicating intensive use of core areas within much larger home ranges. Overall, about 26% of the boobooks' vocalizations occurred within core areas and about 56% within the home range but outside the core area, often near the border shared with the adjacent pair. Approximately 21% of boobook calls were observed on or outside home-range boundaries, which suggested that owls actively defended areas larger than their core areas.