noun

• 1US dialect Any of several North American owls, as the barred owl, Strix varia, or a screech owl (genus Megascops).

• 2An extinct owl of New Zealand, Sceloglaux albifacies, with a pale face, brown-streaked plumage, and a call likened to shrieking laughter, thought to have been exterminated in the mid 20th century (also called whekau).

• 3Australian Either of two nightjars, the white-throated nightjar, Eurostopodus mystacalis, and the spotted nightjar, E. argus.