The Southern boobook (Ninox boobook), is a species of boobook native to mainland Australia, southern New Guinea, Timor and the Sunda Islands. It was considered to be the same species (conspecific) as the morepork of New Zealand until 2013. Birds from Tasmania belong to a taxon, leucopsis which appear to be more closely related to (and hence treated as a subspecies of) the New Zealand species. Eleven subspecies are recognized. This bird is the smallest owl on the Australian mainland and is the continent's most widely distributed and common owl. It is predominantly brown in plumage with grey-green or yellow-green eyes. It feeds on insects and small vertebrates.