Editing Morepork (section)

{{Short description|Species of owl}}
{{Use New Zealand English|date=February 2024}}
{{Speciesbox
| name = Morepork
| image = Morepork 0A2A7676.jpg
| image_caption = Morepork in New Zealand
| status = LC
| status_system = IUCN3.1
| status_ref = <ref name="iucn status 12 November 2021">{{cite iucn |author=BirdLife International |date=2016 |title=''Ninox novaeseelandiae'' |volume=2016 |page=e.T62023843A95186187 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T62023843A95186187.en |access-date=12 November 2021}}</ref>
| status2 = CITES_A2
| status2_system = CITES
| status2_ref = <ref>{{Cite web|title=Appendices {{!}} CITES|url=https://cites.org/eng/app/appendices.php|access-date=2022-01-14|website=cites.org}}</ref>
| genus = Ninox
| species = novaeseelandiae
| authority = ([[Johann Friedrich Gmelin|Gmelin, JF]], 1788)
| subdivision_ranks = Subspecies
| subdivision = 2 extant, 1 extinct (see text)
| synonyms = 
}}

The '''morepork''' ('''''Ninox novaeseelandiae'''''), better known as the '''morepork owl''', and also known by numerous other [[Onomatopoeia|onomatopoeic]] names (such as '''boobook''', '''mopoke''' or '''ruru'''),<ref name=":1" /> is a smallish, brown [[owl]] [[species]] found in [[New Zealand]], and to the northwest, on [[Norfolk Island]], an [[States and territories of Australia|Australian]] territory. It was also, formerly, found on [[Lord Howe Island]].<ref name=":1">{{cite book |last=Burnie |first=David |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fSAJCv8EL9YC&dq=Southern%20Boobook%20morepork%20call&pg=PA199 |title=Nature Guide: Birds |publisher=Penguin |year=2012 |isbn=978-0-7566-9862-1 |location=New York |page=199}}</ref> Three [[subspecies]] of the morepork are recognised, one of which is extinct and another that exists only as a [[Hybrid (biology)|hybrid]] population.

First described by [[Johann Friedrich Gmelin]] in 1788, the morepork was thought to be the same species as the [[Australian boobook]] (''N. boobook''), native to Australia, [[East Timor|Timor-Leste]] and [[New Guinea]], something that endured for nearly two hundred years, until 1999. Similarly, it was also considered the same as the [[Tasmanian boobook]] (''N. leucopsis'') until 2022.

The morepork has dark-brown plumage with prominent pale spots and golden-yellow eyes. Like most owls, the species is generally [[Nocturnality|nocturnal]], though may be [[Crepuscular animal|crepuscular]] at times (or active at dawn and dusk), retiring to roost in secluded spots within the branches of trees. The morepork feeds on larger insects and small vertebrates, hunting by pouncing on them from tree perches. As with all owls, the morepork has supreme [[night vision]] and excellent hearing, able to locate a tiny lizard or rodent from many metres above and away. They then stealthily approach their targeted prey with near-silent flight, without flapping their wings, the prey often not even aware they are being pursued. 

The [[International Union for Conservation of Nature]] (IUCN) has assessed the morepork's population and its potential for decline, and ranked the species as being of [[Least-concern species|least concern]] (not currently at-risk), owing to its presently large range and apparently stable population.<ref name="iucn status 12 November 2021" />