Over the past week and a half I have heard a powerful owl calling. From the internet I am guessing it is a female? It is moving from in the reserve area of Moxhams road bridge, tonight it sounds more like it is in the John Curtin Reserve. I often take notice of bird calls, I have never noticed it here until recently. We used to have a great variety of birds here. King Parrots, Crimson Rosellas, rainbow lorriketes etc. Then the indian minors moved in about 7-8 years ago. They even kicked out a kookaburra nesting in one of my possum boxes. I have seen familys of kookaburras here, more so a couple of years ago. But as I mentioned recently we have noticed a very strong owl noise. It is definately a Powerful Owl.
let's hope that Common (or Indian) Myna is on the Powerful Owl menu
Peter
Nice to hear that your hearing a powerful owl, glendasnow & what a shame the Indian mynas have evicted native birds from your area. It demonstrates how precious our native fauna & flora are & how, if we value them, we need to be vigilant in acting against feral pests like mynas. I endores whole-heartedly pacman's hopes for the powerful owl's diet.
Does anyone know if powerful owl's predate Indian mynas?
How easy is it to destroy Indian myna nests? (Fortunately, we don't have this species in SA).
I knew 2 retired men in Lismore who put a bird trap out every day.
the Mynas would get excited, exhaust themselves & expire whilst the native birds would sit quietly in the corner & get let out at the end of the day
Peter
It sounds rather on the inhumane side, pacman. It becomes a dilemma when desparate times point in the direction of desperate measures. I believe my taking down black bird nests has reduced their numbers here & I wondered if this sort of discouragement would have an effect in myna numbers, prolific breeders though they are.
Hi Glenda
great to hear PO calling.
Generally, if the second note of the double-hoot is higher in pitch you are hearing a female, if the second note is lower, it's a male. In any case, there could be a pair around there. Great news.
Thanks everyone for you comments /replys. I stood out on the balcony 2 nights ago and tried to imitate the call. The powerful owl was only about 20meters from me! I saw the powerful owl fly across to another tree. So quiet, so big. I am used to small owls. Hopefully I will get a good look at the owl. At this stage I have only possibly heard one owl. There may be more, but I think there is only the one.
I just looked for the reserve on Google maps and reckon there is good potential for a nesting pair to be in the area. You have some great habitat nearby a few hundred meters in each direction.
Hi All
Great to read your posts.
About six months ago I became very interested in the Powerful Owl and made it my crusade to see/find one! Shortly there after I found one that had unfortunately been killed one on Archibold Rd (Lindfield, Syd).
Anyway, I kept persevering without much luck until Sunday two weeks ago when I heard a female calling 11.30pm near where I found the one that had been killed but I couldn't see anything as it was well off the road in the bush and dark. Then on Wednesday night next my sister saw a bird carrying a possum between Roseville & Lindfield and called me - knowing my quest! I knew exactly what it was so we quickly returned to the scene and found it not far away on Waimea Rd Roseville sitting there eating its catch!
Totally awesome site, and a very rewarding experience after much effort! I'm certain it was the same bird I heard Sunday night as it would be less that 800m (as the crow flies) from where I heard the calls. It may even be the mate of the one that was killed six months ago??
Good luck all!
PS. not sure about other parts of Aus but there are millions of myna's in Syd and they constantly harass all native birds, especially raptors and smaller birds - big problem.
Cheers
Muz
Muz, make mauling mynas your next mighty move.
Muz, very impressive
Glenda,
As recently as last week I learnt of a pair living / roosting about 3km east of that Moxham Park. Probably a different pair though. In urban areas, Brushtail and Ringtail Possums are prolific enough perhaps to not have the need for massive home ranges for any pair ow Powerful Owls. As for Indian Mynas, I am sure the owls would eat them, but they roost in really thick foliage usually so would be hard to detect perhaps? Let's hope the owls eat them nonetheless.
Hi All,
Thanks for the positive feedback!
Quite a few reports on Birdline of PO's over at Galaringi Reserve, Dundas not far from James Curtin & Northmead Reserve, they may be the same birds or they may be different pairs as Windhover suggests? I tend to think he's is right!
I can also report further exciting developments over my way, two PO's calling to each other in the Lindfield area around 1am last night! One from a northerly direction and one from a southerly direction. Using the recent knowledge I have gained from these threads, a male and female, perhaps a new union!
Cheers
Muz
Great bird to see guys. I wish I could just find one because I have never seen them before. Interesting to learn more about their behaviour too.
Cheers, Owen.
Hi guys
Just a reminder - if you see or hear a Powerful Owl we want to know - even if it is outside of Sydney! There is a survey online now that you can fill out or you can email your sightings to our new Powerful Owl Project Officer, David Bain: [email protected]
If you are in Sydney and are interested we are also looking for volunteers who would like to monitor potential breeding territories for us as well.
I am just writing up the next BIBY newsletter that will have some more information.
Cheers
Holly
edit - oh and on the issue of diet - mynas aren't on the Powerful Owl menu - ringtail possums are the favourite but they also take Flying foxes, the occasional brushie and larger birds like cockatoos and brush-turkeys.
Holly, I totally agree that their fave items are ring and brushtail possums, flying foxes, sugar gliders, and other arboreal mammals as well as larger roosting birds. They'll even take lorikeets and other smaller birds, so my best guess would be if the opportunity arose they'd probably take anything, despite the known food preferences.
Hi All, I used to live in Northmead until the start of May. I am a member of the Hills Shire Bush Care Group. In 2003 the Powerful Owl restoration Team (PORT) was formed.
The Powerful Owl has been mentioned several times in the Bushcare newsletter "Coo eee". The Bush care team have also given location details of sightings to NSW DEC for ATLAS. They are found in Bidjigal and Richard Webb Reserves.
My Mother in law backs onto Bidjigal and they are still frequented by Ring tails, Sugar gliders, Kings, Brush turkeys, Kookaburras, echidnas and even a swamp wallaby (and also many more bird species). I have also seen a Barn owl on the grounds of Westmead Hospital, which is just down the road.
From my experience using the traps that council supplies for Indian Mynas works if the area you live in is dominated by them and there aren't many natives around and you use the right food you will be sucsessful though It would be best to use the traps on a day that someone can frequently check just to make sure.
Below is information from the Hills Shire website.
In NSW all trapping and killing of Indian Mynas must be carried out in accordance with the Codes of Practice (CoPs) and Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) produced by the NSW Department of Primary Industries and funded by the Australian Government Department of the Environment and Heritage. Trappers must read and be familiar with the procedures outlined in the SOPs for Methods of euthanasia(GEN001) and Trapping of pest birds (BIR002), prior to conducting any control activities.
Cheers, Jackie