The chapters in this book derive from papers at a five-day conference devoted to the study of owls, which was held at the Australian National University, Canberra, in January 2000. The conference was the third in a series of international meetings on owls. It provided an opportunity for the presentation of new findings, for northern and southern hemisphere owl researchers to meet and discuss issues of mutual concern, and also for northern biologists to see some of the markedly distinctive species of the region.