We have been watching the P_owls at a few sites and things have been a bit "up in the air".
No obvious signs of mating couples yet but we are waiting in expectation.
At the site we visit daily, there has been a complete turnover in the families.
This site, which can best be described as a large council stormwater pipe draining into a small creek through bushland behind suburban homes and playing fields and then into a mangrove swamp, is a fairly unattractive place.
In a previous age it must have been very nice but now is littered with plastic bottles and all the debris that washes down from city streets after rain.
Yet in the past 16 months we have photographed 10 individual P_owls either roosting or spending a single day here.
There was the original parents plus one juvenile, then the Intruder who evicted the dad, another loose p_owl, then the mum with two juveniles, another loose owl and now a solo owl who has been there since the end of February. (The mum disappeared in March).
The solo owl woohoos its little heart out each night for miles around. So hard that it lost its voice for a week and could only manage a weak, clipped "wut, wut". It seems to have recovered okay but was still alone this morning.
The photos below are of (we think) a male two kilometres away. We think he has a partner as we photographed them together a few weeks ago but have not yet found their nesting hollow.
Cheers,
Antonia
Adorable photos! Especially the last one! :)
- Birdsandmushrooms
It's wonderful that, in spite of humans' best efforts to despoil their environment, these Powerful Owls continue to survive. May they long thwart the despoilers.
Agreed! :)
- birdsandmushrooms
Magnificent photographs as usual Antonia. You mentioned that you have been watching birds at several sites, how do you manage to find them?
Where I live it is (supposed to be) known as the "Home of the Powerful Owl" but I have never seen one let alone photograph them.
Samford Valley Qld.
My pair in the lower mountains have gone quiet. Unless they're nesting in another location, they are not breeding this year.
With the woo-hoo quite audible quite some distance away under normal circumstances in the gullies around the current nest site, I am guessing they are not breeding in 2015. They did raise a young in both 2013 and 2014 respectively, so I guess I can forgive them.
Thanks for your comments birdsandmushrooms, Woko, Reflex and Akos.
Yes Akos, from what we are hearing the breeding seems a bit patchy at present but hopefully
it will soon settle down.
Reflex...we only know about the city owls however the best advice we can offer is to locate some
steep sided gullies with a creek, densely vegetated and with a good canopy. Go there about 10 minutes
before dark and listen for the 'woohoo' until 20 minutes after dark. The woohoo carries for several hundred metres.
Once you locate a site, go back in the daytime and look for the patches of 'whitewash' under the favourite roosts
and look up. Sometimes they are very hard to see, high up and hidden in the canopy, but now and then they
are in plain view.
Good luck,
Antonia
Thanks Antonia,I know a good few spots around here like that. I'll give it a go.
Samford Valley Qld.
My addition to Antonia's suggestion is to actually give probably a good hour before sunset.
At this time of the year, I'd be hearing my male calling from about 17:15 onwards, quite a bit before sunset. Hence why I suggest give it more time before sunset and after.
If you want to find a pair, give a two-hour window to listen on either side of sunset.
The pair I have have a trickle of a creek and about another 50 meters lower a rainforest section where they roost in the heat of summer. The nest tree is located up high, in dry forest. They tend to apparently nest higher on the gully side, rather than in the deep end of it.
Although, I would not discount anywhere there's a suitable large gum tree with a hollow.
The vocalizations are the biggest key. However, by now, you probably won't hear too loud a call series as the males tend to roost close to the nesting females and they (my ones anyway) tend to woo-hoo a bit quieter as the calls don't need to reach as far. A lot of the other vocalizations I have seen associated with a nesting pair (cooing, bleating like a sheep) can only be heard if you're almost on top of the nest. For me, my hearing is really good, I still need about a 70-100 meter radius for the softer calls. And the audability also depends on the ambient sounds. Cicadas = nada. You won't hear squat. Ideally, a nice quiet forest is best.
Good luck mate!
Thanks for your updates and information Antonia.
Hoping to be able to use it in the future or maybe just wait till Reflex has done the hard work
then turn up for a visit
Thanks Reflex, Rick N and Akos.
Akos....Interesting that your owls start so early. Although sunset is before 5:00pm now. Maybe because they are away from the city?
The ones we watch become active about the same time as the streetlights come on....when the day is done but there is still colour in the sky.
They have a big stretch, preen and scratch for a bit, look about and begin woohooing within 5 minutes if they have no food.
If they do have food they eat all or most of it first (this takes about 15-20 minutes) before woohooing.
We think that the main reason they hide in the dense foliage (at least in the city) is for protection from the other birds.
When they are exposed in the daytime on an open branch they are often mobbed by noisy miners, wattlebirds, butcherbirds, magpies and currawongs.
Currawongs are the most aggressive. About 20 to 25 will encircle a lone p_owl...both above and below it... all carolling loudly and taking turns to attack from the rear. This seems to stress the owl a great deal. We have some photos of this if anyone is interested.
Cheers,
Antonia
Definately interested in seeing the photos Antonia.
Thanks for you input as well.