Data from: 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
1,946 hours 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.