This is the Golden Masked Owl, also called the New Britain Barn or Masked Owl. It is found only on the island of New Britain, east of Papua New Guinea. There are estimated to be 2500 to 10,000 of these owls.
They live in tree hollows in coniferous forests, where they hunt mostly ground dwelling mammals and insects. They are also prey themselves to larger eagles and hawks, so protected nesting and roosting areas are important.
I picked this owl today to lead into a post for tomorrow about "The Trail of the Golden Owl" that I just learned about. It's a 30 year old mystery/treasure hunt that is still unsolved, involving a buried brass owl and a reward of a golden, gem encrusted owl as the reward. I'm going to do some more reading on it today, so hopefully this doesn't turn out to be a dud, but it sounds fun!
Meanwhile, he's some now real Golden Owls!
I had wondered what was going on with that comment.
Australia and the surrounding areas have a really nice variety of Barn Owls. I was going to post a different one, but I couldn't find any good pics of it. This one reminded me of a toasted marshmallow.
The treasure hunt post is up, and seems to be a love it or hate it post, but I found the story very compelling.