Owls

In addition to the Sooty Owl there are a number of other owls which call the forests of Victoria home. These range from the diminutive Southern Boobook to the impressively large Powerful Owl.

Southern Boobook – Ninox boobook

Listen to a trio of juvenile Southern Boobooks trilling awaiting return of parents

Tasmanian Boobook(Morepork) – Ninox novaeseelandiae

There had long been anecdotal evidence of Tasmanian Boobook’s visiting Victoria regularly with a number of confirmed records including recent ones in Hamilton and Mount Worth. I have twice found beachcast Boobooks at Wilson’s Prom although at the time thought little of it. It wasn’t until October 2015 when Andrew Franks reported a large number of owls at Cape Liptrap which turned out to be all Tasmanian birds that confirmation that they move in numbers was found. I went down in mid October 2015 and we found 8 birds with little effort in a small area – all obviously staging for return to Tasmania. James Mustafa covers this well on his blog – Link

Here are a few words I wrote about a followup visit to Cape Liptrap in 2016 – LINK

Australian Masked Owl – Tyto novaehollandiae

The Australian Masked Owl is not an easy owl to find around Melbourne with the occasional encounter usually brief and unrewarding. There are at least a couple of birds in Bunyip State Park but I have only had limited encounters in many nights spotlighting there. They are much easier to find in the coastal forests of East Gippsland from Lake Tyers and further east. Here encounters like this BLOG are possible with a bit of effort.

Powerful Owl – Tyto strenua

A recent blog post on Powerful Owl interaction with Yellow-bellied Gliders.

Eastern Barn Owl – Tyto delicatula