An ultrasound observation apparatus for generating an ultrasound image based on an ultrasound echo acquired by an ultrasound probe provided with an ultrasound transducer includes: a puncture needle detection unit configured to detect an image of a puncture needle displayed in the ultrasound image a motion extraction unit configured to extract a linear motion at a point of the puncture needle based on a history of the image of the puncture needle in the ultrasound image and a composite image generation unit configured to generate a composite image by generating loci of the linear motions extracted by the motion extraction unit and superimposing the loci on the ultrasound image, the composite image generation unit generating the composite image by using the loci of the linear motions having passed through a common section a plurality of times among the loci of the linear motions extracted by the motion extraction unit.
