Powerful Owl

Powerful Owl
Conservation status
Least Concern (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Strigiformes
Family:	Strigidae
Genus:	Ninox
Species:	N. strenua
Binomial name
Ninox strenua (Latham, 1802)
The Distribution of the Powerful Owl

The Powerful Owl (Ninox strenua), also known as the Powerful Boobok, is a species of owl native to south-eastern and eastern Australia, the largest owl on that continent. It is found in coastal areas, the Great Dividing Range no more than 200 km inland.The name Powerful Bookbok is very rarely used as a common name in Australia but the name does appear on the ICUN Red List.

Description

The Powerful Owl has large yellow eyes, grey-brown V-barring on all features and dull yellow feet. They are aptly named, with very powerful and heavy claws. This owl is the largest species of the "hawk owl" group. This species measures 45–65 cm (18–26 in) in length and spans 112–135 cm (44–53 in). Unlike in most owl species, the male, at 1.15–1.7 kg (2.5–3.7 lb) is slightly larger than the female, at 1.05–1.6 kg (2.3–3.5 lb).^[1]

Distribution

Mount Coot-tha, SE Queensland, Australia

Range is from Eungella in Queensland south to the central highlands of Victoria and west to Mount Burr in South Australia.

Conservation status

Female and Fledgling, Mount Coot-tha, Brisbane

Powerful Owls are not listed as threatened on the Australian Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999. However, their conservation status varies from state to state within Australia. For example:

• The Powerful Owl is listed as threatened on the Victorian Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act (1988).^[2] Under this Act, an Action Statement for the recovery and future management of this species has been prepared.^[3]
• On the 2007 advisory list of threatened vertebrate fauna in Victoria, the Powerful Owl is listed as vulnerable.^[4]
• On the New South Wales Threatened Species Conservation Act the Powerful Owl is scheduled as Vulnerable.

Habitat

Powerful Owl - Sydney, NSW, Australia

Habitat includes mountain and coastal forests, gullies, forest margins, woodlands including sparse hilly woodlands, scrub, plantations and urban and rural parks and gardens.

Reproduction

Usually found in breeding pairs in a large territory, it nests from May to September in hollow tree trunks 8–30 metres above the ground. The nesting material includes decaying debris and leaf litter. Eggs are oval and dull white. One to two and rarely three are laid per breeding season. It can be found in many places throughout Australia, mainly the coast of New South Wales and Victoria.

Foraging

Powerful Owl on a suburban TV aerial, Chatswood West, Australia

The Powerful Owl is a nocturnal predator of forests and woodlands. Its diet consists of flighted mammals such as grey-headed flying-fox, (Pteropus poliocephalus), arboreal marsupials such as the Greater Glider, ringtail possums, brushtail possums, Koala, Sugar Glider and Feathertail Glider, nocturnal birds such as the Tawny Frogmouth and roosting diurnal birds such as cockatoos and parrots, kookaburras, currawongs and honeyeaters. Insects are taken on the wing. The vast majority of prey is taken from trees including unlikely items such as rock-wallabies that sometimes take refuge in trees.

References

1. ^ [1] (2011).
2. ^ Department of Sustainability and Environment, Victoria
3. ^ Department of Sustainability and Environment, Victoria
4. ^ Victorian Department of Sustainability and Environment (2007). Advisory List of Threatened Vertebrate Fauna in Victoria - 2007. East Melbourne, Victoria: Department of Sustainability and Environment. p. 15. ISBN 978-1-74208-039-0. 

• BirdLife International (2004). Ninox strenua. 2006. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. www.iucnredlist.org. Retrieved on 11 May 2006. Database entry includes a lengthy justification of why this species is of least concern
• Field guide to the birds of Australia Graham Pizzey and Frank Knight, Angus & Robertson 1997, 3rd edition 2000. ISBN 0-207-19714-8

External links

• Powerful Owl Action Statement
• Powerful Owl - Ninox strenua. Also known as Great Hawk Owl
• North East Forest Alliance
• Powerful Owl (Ninox strenua) Dedicated Resource
• "Meet Olivia, a modern girl in owl clothes" - The Age - a Powerful Owl moves into Melbourne's Flagstaff Gardens.
• ABC Science information on the Powerful Owl