masked owl – Go Birding

Amazing what you can cram into 2 days in Tassie

Posted on May 31, 2024 by CorwinCaelin

On the weekend just gone I was lucky enough to be invited to the wedding of good mate Peter Allen and his wonderful partner Andi down in Tasmania with a good group of other birder friends. When one is attending a wedding in one of the greatest wildlife areas in the country what is one to do aside from value add some wildlife experiences around the grand event? Lets see just how much I can cram into 2 days in Lutruwita. I arrived late afternoon into Hobart with Rohan and we picked up a car and checked into accommodation just past Sorrell before eating a decent Indian prawn curry. We decided to spotlight along Weilangta Forest Drive where I had good success last year with quolls and a Long-tailed mouse. Things got off to a good start with a Long-nosed Potoroo at the start of the drive but it got very quiet soon after with not even a pademelon to be seen.

Thermal Masked Owl

Eventually we got to the “site” where Isaac and I had found Long-tailed Mouse last year and we poked around there with thermal for 15-20 minutes until I detected a small mammal on the ground. It was very cryptic and while I strongly suspected from what we could see in thermal it was a Long-tailed Mouse we just couldn’t be sure which was frustrating as it would be a new mammal for Rohan. It seemed to be centered around a burrow and would venture out then scoot back all the while in thick cover. We decided to let it be and would hit it again when we passed back later. Things continued to be pretty quiet with just common species until we stopped at a creek crossing up near Orford and played a quick Masked Owl call which had an immediate call back with a lovely pale male circling round before perching very high above us. I jogged…. ok I waddled up the road to see if I could encourage it to move to a nicer perch and we noticed in the moonlight that it was followed by a very silent and beautiful honey coloured female who just regarded us from a distance silhouetted in the moonlight. Beautiful!

Spot the Masked Owl

Moving back towards Hobart we stopped at another creek crossing and got out for a poke around. I thermaled a few roosting birds including a nice male Scarlet Robin with the full moon making it almost like twilight. I saw a shadow of a bird pass over my head and swung the headlight around a bit wildly but could not find the bird. Eventually I looked straight up and there was a beautiful dark female Masked Owl looking at me curiously. A bit of a panic as I grabbed my camera from the car but she didn’t go too far and posed for a few nice pics. One of the nicest birds I have ever seen. We were absolutely stoked and realised there was only one thing left to do – get Rohan that Long-tailed mouse. Drove back to the “site” and immediately found it again on thermal but again was proving cryptic. I walked away and left Rohan to it and eventually he was able to get decent enough views to confirm what we already strongly suspected – it was a Long-tailed Mouse! We cruised back to the accom considering this a very successful nights work.

I think I am in love

Up not too early we heading down the Tasman Peninsula stopping at the Dunnalley bakery for breakfast and coffee. Our targets were Buff-banded Rail and BT Native-hen which might not seem much to a mainlander but are Tassie megas. They were both at the Port Arthur lavender farm which was not yet open and after poking around the edges we poked in the car park and had both in about 30 seconds. Job done – how easy is that? From here we cruised down to the heath near the Remarkable Caves to look for Striated Fieldwren – it was a glorious morning with wall to wall blue sky and albatross cruising just offshore. Very birdy with lots of honeyeaters, we eventually found a pair of the Fieldwren about a kilometer in – LGA ticking FTW.

Tassie goes alright

Now it was time to get ready for the main event – Peter and Andi’s wedding – so we scooted back to the accom with only a little birding on the way. After attempting to scrub up a little we arrived at the wedding which was a fantastic affair. I definitely did not shed a tear. Was great to share in the special day and to catch up with good friends. We even managed some cheeky spotlighting at the end of the night without success.

Wedding of the century

Up at stupid o’clock the next morning I dropped Rohan at the airport before heading back down to Eaglehawk Neck for the post wedding pelagic. We were under strict instructions from the groom to have a good day but not a great day – and so it proved. Was really good to be out on the water again on a very pleasant day. Birds were great with highlights including Blue Petrels, Southern Fulmars, many dozens of White-headed Petrels and a few Soft-plumaged Petrels as well as over a dozen various Wandering type albatross. The best part however was catching up with people. I was pretty tired as I got onto the plane home a little over 48 hours after arriving – a very productive couple of days.

My first Souther Fulmar from a boat

Plue Betrel

Masked Owl is best owl

Posted on March 29, 2017 by CorwinCaelin

I have been terrible at blog posts this year. Every time I get started on a post I get distracted and never get back to it. And it is not for lack of good material! This year I have had some great experiences including Shepherd’s Beaked Whale, Eastern Quolls and more than my fair share of owls. So in the interest of getting back into the blogging business for 2017 I will start with a few Masked Owl seen in East Gippsland during January. As is my want during the Christmas break I had headed down to the Marlo area for a spot of owling with Jono Dashper and Owen Lishmund. During the daylight hours we had some pretty good birding with species like Ground Parrot at Marlo and Conran, scads of Emu-wrens, Wedge-tailed Shearwaters off the Cape and the usual suite of wet forest specialists. I particularly like heading east and encountering Black-faced Monarchs in every gully because to me they hint at a more tropical flavour further north – one of my favourite birds and we saw and heard plenty on this trip.

Eventually we found our way to my favourite owling site near Conran where yet again the Crescent Honeyeaters “egypted” on dusk before the White-throated Nightjars fired up. A Masked Owl screamed but it was soon drowned out by a lovely pair of Sooty Owl trilling which gave good if distant views. Something rather special about seeing two Sooties in the one binocular view in the fading light…. We potted around the area finding a number of frogs including some nice Paracrinia haswelli before heading further afield. Ducking down some dirt tracks we found a nice open area of heathland where right on midnight we had a rather lovely Masked Owl come and visit, cackling around our heads like a demented seagull. This was a lovely pale bird which looked like a ghost hovering well above us at the limit of the torch beam. It did not perch but was a nice lifer for Jono and Owen. Further up the track we encountered another individual which gave us great views as it perched reasonably close by.

Masked Owl

We continued on and somewhere well north of Bemm River we encountered a third Masked Owl. This individual is not done justice my bad pictures but in the binocular view had a gorgeous grey tone on its facial disk like no other I had seen before. Unfortunately it did not get close enough for good pics but I will be back. Sooty Owls and Yellow-bellied Gliders at Cabbage Tree and a fat Long-nosed Bandicoot rounded out an excellent night.

Masked Owl

Yellow-bellied Glider worried about a Powerful Owl

Some Powerful Owl fun

Posted on May 18, 2016 by CorwinCaelin

With the forecast looking fantastic on Sunday night I finished up some family commitments and headed out to Bunyip State Park to look for some owl action. I arrived out there about 7:30 pm to still conditions and crystal clear skies. Jupiter was close to the moon which was half full and providing plenty of ambient light for moving around. Basic plan for the evening was to visit 4 sites in the park – two well known and two new sites – twice each to chase owls which should be quite vocal right now. I started at a nice known spot of mine where recently I have had Sooty and Powerful owl as well as the three regular gliders but all I had was silence. Despite a fair bit of poking around I could not even raise a ringtail. I moved on to another known spot where I had previously seen Masked Owl and sure enough after about 10 minutes I had strong call response several times but could not move the bird from its location in the forest across the valley.

Yellow-bellied Glider came in to greet the Powerful Owl

I drove around a bit with only the occasional Greater Glider spotlit and the odd boobook calling for company plus numerous Geocrinia victoriana until I eventually had a Sooty Owl fly across the road in front of the car which is the first time this has happened for me. I stopped and could hear the Sooty moving away calling as it went before settling several hundred meters away. I tried to call it back but it would not come any closer. The reason for this was soon apparent as a pair of Powerful Owls started calling with the deep male in response to the higher pitched female. I was alerted to the Powerful Owl sitting above me by a number of Yellow-bellied Gliders calling raucously with one even gliding into the tree beside the owl and charging up the trunk. I had read about this behaviour from Yellow-bellied Gliders and while I had heard and seen them respond to Sooty Owl calls this is the first time I had witnessed the mobbing behaviour. Despite this the Powerful Owl sat completely unperturbed looking down at me allowing me to take a few happy snaps. By now a second Sooty Owl had joined the first as they sat screaming with indignation the gully over which the owl ignored. After 10 minutes the owl had not moved so I left it to its own devices – for all I know it is sitting there still. A couple more Greater Gliders and a Frogmouth on the way out rounded it off. All in all a pretty good night and home in bed just after 11 which is not bad for a school night!

Powerful Owl – Bunyip State Park

If only….

Posted on February 28, 2016 by CorwinCaelin

After having such good fortune on most of my spotlighting trips this year I was about due for a quiet one. I headed out to Bunyip late afternoon for a bit of pre-spotlighting exploring of a new area which had no tracks marked on the map. After a bit of poking around I was able to find a management track into the area I was interested in but it was very quiet with only a few birds seen and nothing of particular interest. Still it was a worthwhile exercise with large areas of Banksia spinulosa about to come into flower which will be worth checking shortly. Headed into Gembrook for dinner and met up with my two companions for the evening Dean and Chris. Chris is a bit of a veteran of my spotlighting nights but this was the first time I had managed to drag Dean out. A few White-throated Needletails hawked above Gembrook before dusk.

We headed to the Helipad arriving right on dusk but no nightjars were evident although a Sooty did call from Ash Landing Road. Another reliable nightjar spot again drew a blank – perhaps they are starting to head North as they were very much in evidence last week. My main target for the night was to try and photograph the Masked Owl I had seen last week so we headed over to the area. We had some distant call response but no action so after half an hour moved on to another spot. Many of the eucalypts were flowering so there were large numbers of Grey-headed Flying-foxes around which I don’t recall seeing in such numbers in Bunyip State Park before. A Greater Glider also fed on the blossum and Sugar Gliders yapped from various places. Many, many microbats flitted around which remain frustratingly unidentified.

We headed to Mortimer’s Picnic Ground where the well known juvenile Sooty Owl continued to show well while calling incessantly although staying too far away for photos. Mum (or Dad) called from nearby but did not show so we headed back to the original site. After poking around there for half an hour with a gliding Sugar Glider the highlight we were about to get in the car when a Sooty Owl called from directly above the car. This bird looked to be an adult male on size but had a bit of a teenagers voice as its bomb calls cracked and warbled. Still it gave great views and photo opportunities, particularly for Dean with his excellent camera setup. While we were admiring and photographing this owl, the Masked Owl started calling strongly from down the road so I jumped off to chase it. Unfortunately it shut up after a couple of minutes and did not call again while we were there which was somewhat disappointing. Still the Sooty Owl decided to follow us down the road, trilling as it went giving us more photo opportunities. In the end we left it there and for all we know it is calling still.

All in all a good but not great night with walk away views of the Sooty Owl and 12 identified mammal species – will be back out again soon.

EBIRD LIST

Sooty Owl – Bunyip State Park

If only the flash had fired 🙁

An adequate night out

Posted on December 30, 2015 by CorwinCaelin

With Simone safely shipped off to Paris, Lucas and I headed down to Seaspray for a few nights with Mum and Dad at the holiday house.The water levels at Seaspray were as low as I have ever seen them and aside from an impressive 500+ Banded Stilt there were no waders of note. I did spend an afternoon and then a few hours spotlighting in Giffard FFR and surrounding areas of Mullungdung State Forest as I had heard tasty rumours of Masked Owl and i was keen to check the swamps for Uperoleia tyleri which had been photographed a couple of years back. However the swamps were bone dry and the forest largely silent after dark with many foxes and three cats being a concern – the only nighttime observation of note were 14 separate wombats (all alive for a change) and the only frog calling was Crinia signifera.

Red-bellied black snake

After a couple of excellent mornings at the beach with Lucas I had a leave pass so decided to duck off a mere three hours up the coast to Cape Conran for a touch of spotlighting. On the way I stopped at an old favourite, Fairy Dell and while it was in the heat of the day I still had some nice birds including Leaden Flycatcher and Black-faced Monarch. A further brief stop at Cabbage Tree walk added Scarlet Honeyeater and Brush Cuckoo as well as the more usual suspects. I didn’t do any targeted daylight birding in Cape Conran Coastal Park but still managed some nice birds including a couple of Turquoise Parrots on Cabbage Tree Road and a nice pair of very vocal Beautiful Firetails. A work mate was staying at Conran Camp Ground so I dropped in for a few beers and an excellent evening meal. I set off a bit before dusk to drive to my “secret spot” arriving as the Crescent Honeyeaters were Egypting themselves to sleep. The Crescents were still calling as the White-throated Nightjars arced up, bubbling away in the distance – I did have a brief flyby but I had more impressive targets on my mind. Pretty soon a Sooty Owl called and a large female owl landed quite a way back. I could tell she was agitated as she kept looking around and was not really interested in my squeaking and would not come closer for photos. The reason for the agitation became apparent as two Masked Owl called from either side of the location, first hissing and then cackling repeatedly. The Masked Owl that I decided was male flew in cackling and the Sooty Owl immediately decamped, flying off into the night screaming her displeasure – for the remainder of the time I was here she remained perhaps 150 meters away screaming every few minutes – this is a call I rarely hear closer to Melbourne so I assume it is threat related.

Sooty Owl – taken last year in same location

High above my head I had a second Masked Owl cackling away and I was able to spotlight what I assume was the female circling high above like a seagull. She seemed to be darker than the first bird and eventually she had enough and flew somewhere up the hill where she continued to hiss intermittently for the next half hour. Which left me with the male – he was in for the long haul and continued to cackle repeatedly – any noise would set him off – even me explaining to him what a pretty boy he was and he would cackle repeatedly. I had a good half hour with this magnificent owl as he occasionally changed perches but all the while cackling to me as I first squeaked and then just started talking to him. Eventually I said enough was enough so I bid him adieu – he continued to cackle at me as I got into the car and drove further afield.

Australian Masked Owl

I drove to another site a few kilometers away towards Orbost and lay back on the bonnet of the car and listened for a time until I heard a distant scream. A quick call and I very quickly had two Masked Owl cackling and circling well above my head. They eventually settled well away and continued to hiss but with the scrub being rather thick and already having good shots I moved on. I was also on the lookout for frogs and as I was driving along I heard Litoria nudidigita calling from a roadside wetland so pulled over for a poke around. Almost immediately I heard what I believe to be a Uperoleia calling – here it is likely to be the very rare and range restricted martini which I was very keen to see and photograph. A quick switch to macro lens and I started to poke around – I was sure I could hear two frogs calling. Unfortunately I quickly ended up in the water and despite the heat of the recent days it was dark, dank and very cold and around scrotum deep. The calls of the frog are quite ventriloquil and were calling from deep inside thick vegetation and eventually I had to admit defeat although I will return better prepared and with backup.

I continued to pot around and eventually looped back to the Cabbage Tree Walk where a Boobook and Sooty Owl were calling incessantly. By now the moon was well up and it was past 2 am so I rolled out the swag, quite satisfied that I had had an adequate night.

Masked Owl says goodnight