Owl Feather ID Please - PO or Southern Boobook?

6 posts / 0 new
Last post
owly
owly's picture
Owl Feather ID Please - PO or Southern Boobook?

Hello friends!

Here I present three feathers, two for comparison. A tawny frogmouth, a wedge tailed eagle, and a mystery owl feather - the barred one on the far right. The colour isn't true in these photos. I found two of them in Yandoit Hills in Victoria over a year ago.

Some are suggested it's a Southern Boobook, others are veering toward the Powerful Owl. It is incredibly downy and fluffy. It feels like a PO to me.

Thanks for your assistance!

Owlana


Three feathers for comparison

Feather alone.

Close up of the serration of the feather.

Owl of Kedumba
Owl of Kedumba's picture

I don't know about anyone else but I can't see the photo's.

Canonguy
Canonguy's picture

Based on the feather's size alone compared to the other two presented (great to have a couple of feathers for scale) I would suggest definitely a Powerful Owl. The other factor that makes me suggest that is the barring of the feather. I'll send the thread off to a couple of scientist friends who must have forgotten more about Australian owls than most of us will ever know and see what they think.

I am pretty sure of my ID though.

Canonguy
Canonguy's picture

Rod Kavanagh and Matthew Stanton both confirmed the feather as that of a Powerful Owl.

davethewonder
davethewonder's picture

I agree - Powerful Owl. 

I have a collection of them from a pair that nested in the bush adjacent to my childhood home. Filled a whole box with them over the years. Now I wonder if my parents still have them? 

 

Dave, Sydney. 

owly
owly's picture

Incredible!

Thankyou so much for everyone's amazing and swift response. I really appreciate this. I'm thrilled that I'm guardian to a pair of PO feathers, and more importantly, that it's a sign of the presence of - hopefully - a mating pair in the area that i'd heard about for so long.

Namaste!

 and   @birdsinbackyards
                 Subscribe to me on YouTube