Passive‐acoustic evidence of lunar, temporal, and weather effects on the vocal activity of four coexisting forest owl species in southern Taiwan

Lunar illumination and environmental conditions are known to shape vocal behavior of nocturnal birds, but few studies have simultaneously compared responses across multiple owl species. Using a full‐year passive acoustic monitoring (PAM) dataset from Yushan National Park, Taiwan, we investigated how four sympatric Strigidae species – mountain scops‐owl Otus spilocephalus , collared owlet Taenioptynx brodiei , collared scops‐owl O. lettia , and northern boobook Ninox japonica – responded to variation in lunar phase, lunar altitude, temporal factors, and weather. We analyzed 1946 h of nighttime audio using an AI‐based sound recognition model (SILIC ver. exp32), yielding over 700 000 vocalizations. Generalized additive models revealed species‐specific responses to lunar variables: while collared owlet and northern boobook increased vocal activity near full moon or high lunar altitude, the other two species remained relatively unaffected. By incorporating both absolute hour and solar‐referenced night‐phase indices, we further clarified how diel behavior varies across seasons. Weather factors such as wind and rain suppressed vocal activity across all species, but to a varying degree. These results highlight the ecological divergence in nocturnal communication strategies among different owl species, with implications for improving survey timing and species detection in community monitoring.