Development of a Pokémon Fanon

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Hoothoot Line

This is revision 1. As of Mar 2017, a further revision is unscheduled.


  • Hoothoot [163]
  • Noctowl [164]

Hoothoot is a small bird Pokémon of brown colouration and an almost-round body (without visible neck) adorned with clock-like features. It is well known for its stubborn propensity to stand in one foot even when hurt and for its particular ability to measure time which is made patent by their constant hooting at specific times of the night.

Noctowl is Hoothoot's evolution; it is a larger bird whose plummage features different shades of brown. It has wide wings and a structure of two-pronged “feather horns” above its head.

Both Pokémon have very light and thin feathers of brown and cream colouration whose disposition in their bodies make them look bulkier than they really are (in particular in Hoothoot's case, who looks round). The feathers in their tails and bellies are arranged in such a way as to push incoming air in only one direction, a particular trait that allows the glide of a Hoothoot or Noctowl to produce little to none warning sound.

Both species are also known for their red eyes. The face of Hoothoot features particular eye markings of black colouration that look like the hands of a clock, whose function seems to be to hide Hoothoot's notorious red-irised eyes and line of sight from the vision of sidelined competitors or prey. Noctowl's feather horns help protecting their eyes and also function as a display of social status.

Notable Biology

Hoothoot's and Noctowl's eye structure is fairly complicated. Where human eyes have thrichromatic vision (red, green and blue from three kinds of receptive cone cells) and most birds have tetrachromatic vision, Noctowl's eye cells give him unique hexachromatic vision, with two unique perception levels of ultraviolet light in the middle- and super- ultraviolet spectre (~300 nm and ~60 nm respectively) and basic perception of infrared light; the perception in the UV-range may be triggered at will, but this has not been conclusively proven. It is possible that the ability to perceive motion in the super-ultraviolet spectre, where photon interaction is more related to shell electrons and phase changes than to the actual reflective properties of surfaces, grants Noctowl the ability to not only detect the presence of Ghost-type Pokémon and their illusory attacks, but also to track the teleportation of Pokémon like Abra, allowing them to pursue and attack such evasive foes.

A special ability that this species has is the telling of time thanks to an internal magnetosensitive organ that registers Earth's rotation through the motion of iron-laced microhairs; Hoothoot uses visual tracking of sunlight in order to compensate for the organ's (already incredible) precision, granting it granularity of less than a minute for the more experienced specimens.

When a trained Hoothoot senses the approach of a particular point of time that it may have been ordered to watch, it will start hooting incessantly. It has been observed that Hoothoot have the habit of accompanying their tracking of time by particular motions like switching their standing foot or tilting their heads, which they usually do when they are left unattended or run risk of being distracted. The period of their foot switching in the wild approaches 12 minutes, whereas the period of their head tilting is variable but fixed once started and seems to be related to multiples of 2.4142 seconds.


Hoothoot and Noctowl live in forests, where they silently move across the lower and denser layers of branches and occasionally approach thickets or clearings. They are nocturnal Pokémon who take advantage of their incredible sight to feed themselves at night and hide during the day.

Up until some years ago, the accelerated rythm of construction in the mountain and forest lines across Johto caused enough discomfort in the local populations of Hoothoot and Noctowl that they started moving away; despite being recognized as a Johto Pokémon and being featured prominently in scientific and touristic resources as such, they were only barely found anywhere but the westernmost Kanto routes. However they have recently returned to their natural habitat, most likely after the successful completion of the Magnet Train railroad extension.


As with most bird Pokémon, Hoothoot and Noctowl base their diet on small bugs; they are no strangers to berries as well. Both members of the evolutive line prey at night, however unlike most other nocturnal species like Sneasel they don't pursue their prey but wait for individuals who are conveniently located to be preyed upon. Hoohtoot tracks bugs on the floor and dive to annoy them into heading towards nearby trees to climb, at which point Hoothoot can head up the branches to not only intercept with relative ease, but also track other bugs moving to their hideouts. Sometimes Hoothoot can become so focused on a climbing Caterpie that a strong movement of the tree, like when hit by a ramming Rhyhorn, will cause them to drop down and start hopping around in confusion.

Social Structure

Hoothoot and Noctowl live in very small groups (barely over ten individuals) that track each other's location in order to gather into larger clusters in times of need. Groups nest in the wider and denser parts of trees, where the chick are protected.

It is not uncommon for Trainers crossing the forests to find themselves watched by a Noctowl: they are always eager to learn the tricks, shortcuts and dangers of the forests they inhabit in the interest of defending their kin.

Training and Hazards

Hoothoot are sociable Pokémon that enjoy the thrill of the night, but are not very active themselves. As such they find themselves at home with Trainers who hold night jobs or who travel primarily during the night; they abhor the nocturnal city life, too noisy for their tastes, and prefer the dangerous night of the city outskirts. It is even believed the construction of the Kanto-Johto raliroad across southern Johto was the major cause of their temporary migration a couple of years ago.

Noctowl is a predatory Pokémon who, despite remaining comfortable with their Trainer during most of the time will prefer to leave them at night and scout the skies looking for a fellow hunter of the night; together they establish a temporary alliance for watching and securing prey. In this respect Noctowl gets along better with Murkrow, and when available with the very rare Umbreon.

Courting and Childrearing

FIXME (pending in this revision)