The Powerful Owl Project - Birdlife Australia
←
→
Page content transcription
If your browser does not render page correctly, please read the page content below
The Powerful Owl Project
July 2021
2021 Season in progress Meet Les Brown from North Sydney, a dedicated, practical,
and treasured bushland advocate, who has been a guardian
A big hello to all and wishing you well in these troubled
of owls and forest in his patch for more than 40 years. Les,
times. COVID remains with us, and its restrictions seem to
like many of our owly empire of great citizen scientists, is
be becoming the new normal now. With escalating
lucky enough to have owls in his backyard.
restrictions in place in the Sydney Basin, we hope you are all
staying safe and healthy, and are managing to connect with
your people in contactless ways.
While having to stay put is sometimes frustrating, what we
love is the flip side of this story, where being at home
creates opportunities to immerse ourselves in our local
areas. Sometimes that immersion turns up beautiful things.
There’s an interesting phenomenon that rumbles along at
the bottom level of the project, where when we begin to
pay attention to owls, that attention is reciprocated.
Sometimes when owls have not been about, they suddenly
begin to turn up in the backyards of our owly guardians. So
Lovely fungi, Greenhood and Helmet orchids in the North please do listen out for your local owls. You may be lucky
Sydney bushland. Photos: Marilyn Coventry and have them stop by for a cup of tea.
Our 2021 season started with a bang in April, with birds a-
flirting and hollow choosing all over the place. That early Words from the People
start has done us a favour in some ways. The snap colds in
June that usually treat our eggs so poorly seem to have had We thought it would be great to share with you the impact
less impact, and the failures we often see as a result, have close living with owls can have. Meet Harsh, Shalini and their
not yet been documented. Whilst this leaves us in a good daughter Akira, whom are lucky enough to have owls living
spot in July with 56 pairs breeding so far, chicks trilling from in their garden.
15 hollows in the Sutherland, Northern Beaches and Ryde
Here Harsh tells their story:
areas we will have to wait for lockdown to ease to get about
My wife Shalini and Akira had to travel to India due to the
and confirm how many birds managed to breed overall. As
sad and unexpected demise of my father-in-law. Their
current health orders and poor weather have put a damper
return to Australia has been delayed indefinitely due to a
on our owl looking activities this season, those reports of
severe outbreak of the Pandemic in the sub-continent. They
owls calling around your place become so important. And
are both safe and COVID free but will not return to Sydney
you may indeed hear owls, as nesting is increasingly close to
the house /bushland interface, with many of our nest trees until March 2022. Akira misses her school and friends.
within 50m of the back fence.
We both are sad given our family is continuing to be At dawn and dusk when we hear the deep Hoot-
separated for this lengthened time and that circumstances Hoot, calls. Akira is so excited and reminds us the Owls are
are so challenging for us. However Akira is excited to know back in our backyard.
about the wellbeing of the Powerful Owls George and
Mildred in our back yard via FaceTime. She is excited and My daughter likes both George and Mildred and she is very
looking forward to returning to Sydney to see them in our inquisitive to learn more about these birds and why they
back yard. visit our back yard during June.
We met Ms. Rigby our Powerful Owl citizen scientist in
April 2019 when we moved to our new house. She has
been observing our owls for the past 7 years and she calls
them George and Mildred.
Akira says – “They live at our house and I like them a lot. I
can always come in the morning and see them. At night
they say Hooooo-ooooo-oooo”.
Harsh and his family have learned many things by living
with owls: the success of long partnership, the value of
living amongst trees, a trigger to be inspired to learn more
about nature, a connection to place that stretches across
the world, and the opportunity to learn and to build
connections to nature for their daughter Akira and
themselves. May the rest of us have this amazing
Owls George and Mildred. Photo: S. Rigby opportunity and embrace it so fully.
During summer and the non- breeding seasons they live in Rodenticides
the bush behind her house. With the explosion of mice still ongoing in Western NSW and
other parts of Australia rodenticides have been in the media
We came to know from Ms. Rigby that our owls are lately. Second Generation Anticoagulant rodenticides
territorial and partners for life and they will move to our (SGARs) offer a known source of danger by poisoning to
backyard nest tree each year. There are few other trees old predatory birds.
enough in our valley as owls need trees at least 150 years
old. So the beautiful Angophora next door to us is like an In May the New South Wales Government requested an
apartment block for many bird species. Including the emergency permit to roll out huge quantities of
Powerful Owls. Bromadiolone in agricultural areas to combat the current
mouse plague in Western NSW. Bromadiolone is known as
Ms. Rigby explained to us, the Powerful Owls are a second-generation anticoagulant and kills animals by
Australia’s largest owls and before the terrible summer in causing internal bleeding. It does not kill immediately or
December 2018 they were listed as vulnerable. It is now break down after it is ingested, meaning mice who have
thought they will be on the extinction list, which is so sad. eaten it can be caught and eaten by other animals. Studies
in Australia have found bromadiolone and other second-
We are so fortunate to have such precious, rare owls generation rodenticides in dead birds of prey including
roosting in our back yard for a few months each year. Southern Boobooks and Wedge-tailed Eagles.
They love our beautiful rain forest garden and feel
sheltered when they visit our backyard. While the male can
still keep an eye on the nest during breeding season.
2 The Powerful Owl Project
Our research will firstly investigate the impacts rodenticides
may have on our Powerful Owls, a species that like many
owls, loves to eat rats. The first batch of samples are with
the lab now, but a second batch is about to be sent away.
Owls have been collected from the Hills, Sutherland,
Eurobodalla, Northern Beaches, Newcastle, Central Coast
and Wollondilly areas, and after post-mortem bodies are
being lodged with the National Wildlife Museum so they can
be used by other researchers. Due to COVID-based delays
at the testing laboratory results of this work are not yet to
hand but are anticipated by September 2021. Funding
allowing, we hope to broaden our analyses to include other
bird species likely to be adversely affected by SGARs, and
ultimately to properly regulate rodenticide, and educate
land managers and the public to make fauna-friendly
choices.
A lovely lady Powerful owl makes a meal of a rat at
the risk of rodenticide poisoning. Feathers and Green Corridors
Photo: Paul Nichols
One of the
A huge thank you to all of you who joined in our campaign trends we see
to have the APVMA refuse this permit. With the support of more frequently
over 11k signatures we put forward our concerns to the for our urban
APVMA and also the NSW Agriculture Minister and the NSW Powerful Owls is
Environment Minister. birds ending up
in odd spots: in
It was such a relief to hear that our voices were listened to
workshops,
and the permit was denied! But while this permit did not go
ahead, second generation rodenticides like bromadiolone schools,
are still being used by individuals, both on farms in mouse supermarket
plague areas, and around houses and gardens across loading docks
Australia. Many people may not know that as well as killing and car yards.
mice they go on to kill birds and other wildlife.
We might expect out of place roosting when young birds are
You can help by talking to your friends and neighbours, finding their way to new territory as they leave home and
displaying an Owl-friendly garden sign and using move into the world. However, this inopportune roosting is
alternatives to these products. Go also being seen increasingly in adult Powerful owls,
to www.actforbirds.org/ratpoison for more information. sometimes with very poor outcomes.
There is still a long way to go. BirdLife Australia wants to see Part of the reason owls may become ‘stranded’ in the wrong
second generation rodenticides removed from public sale. spots may be that the landscape elements that allow them
This will require research proving the impacts of poisoning to move are being increasingly lost from the urban space as
on our wildlife. Birdlife has created a campaign to help tree cover is lost. Urban greening is a landscape
people learn more about the dangers of rodenticides and to management movement that is becoming a more pressing
fundraise for ongoing analysis of birds, those killed in urban focus for the health of humans and wildlife. However, it
areas and those more rural birds that may have been needs to be targeted to include specific vegetation features
exposed to rodent poisons. If you’d like to donate to this
to be useful for large predators like Powerful owls. Powerful
cause please see our link here:
owls are short distance fliers, that hopscotch through the
https://rodenticide.raisely.com/.
vegetation and across built structures in the urban space.
Green corridors are essential for facilitating this movement.
Movement is essential in turn, not just for supporting
hunting and finding mates, but also for preserving genetic
health in the long term.
Jul 21 3
Our All in the Family genetics The inclusion of street trees, small, vegetated
project supported by both remnants, and trees on private land in corridors in
Lane Cove Council and the conjunction with appropriate future planning and
Foundation for National Parks legislated protection for these features
and Wildlife used data
collected from shed owl • The development of planning instruments
feathers to investigate the protecting corridors as significant green
genetic health of our Sydney infrastructure assets by consistent, widespread
Basin Powerful Owls and how and transparent state and local level policy
Powerful Owls are moving through the urban space. The preventing tree clearing in designated corridors
project identified that even in suburbs with high canopy
• The inclusion of water innovations providing cool
cover, the genetic diversity of Powerful Owls is low, with
microclimates required by owls
distinct sub populations of birds with very similar genetic
structure confined to different regions of the Sydney Basin. • Planning instruments to support the capacity of
people engaged in wildlife protection and
Whilst one instance of a long-range dispersal of one owl of
rehabilitation to manage increased urban wildlife
over 100kms was recorded by comparing the genetic
footprint of owl feathers, in several cases owls did not • Engagement with and education for the
disperse. In one case in North Sydney a two-year-old owl community to encourage ownership and
bred right on the margin of its natal territory, 350m from the protection of corridors through co-authored
tree in which it was hatched! This genetic data supports planning, in conjunction with a multi-level mapping
what our citizen scientists are seeing more regularly as we program that outlines where corridors can be
continue to monitor: many young owls are simply not established
leaving home. Instead, they end up moving to the territory
margin to grow up. In some instances, we see a A tale of one tree
compounding of this lack of movement, with territories that
Some of you may have heard of our recent involvement with
previously supported two birds, now supporting as many as
tree retention at a high school in North Sydney.
six birds! This lack of movement is contributing to the low
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9759087/Plans-
genetic diversity our All in the family project has identified.
redevelop-Sydney-high-school-scrapped-avoid-cutting-
Facilitating movement by creating green corridors is tree-home-rare-breeding-owls.html
essential if we want to increase the genetic diversity of our
urban owl population. For some birds a functional green For those that missed this story a breeding tree was
corridor can be a series of “stepping stones” of green space, scheduled for removal whilst the owls were nesting this
rather than the linear corridor of vegetation often needed season. Citizen scientists were quick to raise concerns when
by mammals, but in all cases effective Powerful Owl the nest tree was cordoned off inside the works zone.
corridors are likely to be those that support connected Concerted effort by the local environment group WEPA in
vegetation canopies. liaison with the Willoughby Council and BirdLife have
resulted in a fast response from the Department of
This research also highlighted the need to protect hollow- Education, with the directive to try to save this tree. Whilst
bearing trees, both those with small hollows for possums, immediate works include modification to the current build
and big hollows for breeding Powerful owls. The broad plan to allow this season’s chicks to fledge, ongoing
recommedations developed by this work for building good investigations will ascertain if the tree can be retained in
corridors include: perpetuity as a living or dead tree. Owls have been
documented using this highly urban tree for ten years, and
in that time fledged 11 chicks from the tree.
• Retention of hollow bearing trees for breeding and
prey base support and to reduce aggressive
These chicks often grew for the first month of fledgling life
interactions with day birds
right next to a classroom window, allowing the kids to get
• Development and retention of features that allow, to know the birds intimately. This offered a fantastic
support, and encourage movement including - learning opportunity, and a chance for kids to directly
high canopy cover, horizontal perches over engage with an amazing threatened species. Pretty cool,
flightways, the incorporation of novel features like and definitely worth fighting to conserve!
vegetated overpasses and possum bridges
4 The Powerful Owl Project
This whole scenario has been excellent in opening doors to
providing education to the Department of Education and its
contractors to protect hollow-bearing trees in the future.
Further, it offers opportunities to incorporate new data
about what trees are important to owls into the planning
and development process. It is a testament to the real time
power of the work of our citizen scientists. Bravo Lynette,
Wendy and Meredith. What a great result!
Next steps
There is still plenty to do before 2021 ends including:
• providing advice for hazard reduction burn planning
• continuing to investigate threat mapping, including
road trauma and planning for research around night
lighting and noise. If you are seeing changes to your
local lighting that you think may affect birds, please
Whilst demolition of the buildings adjacent to the nest tree let us know
are ongoing, the adult owls have so far been incredibly stoic • extending work on nest boxes and tree hollow
in accepting the changes to the immediate nest tree function
environs. There is at least one chick trilling in the hollow • advocating for the retention of green space and
currently, although site works have made the tree more planning for building green corridors in urban
visible to aggressive daybirds, who have been threatening Sydney
the chick/s.
We shall get right on that and go check the nest trees as
BirdLife is monitoring the tree closely with support from soon as movement restrictions ease. Fingers crossed for
the Department of Education in allowing access to the excellent results. Stay safe, stay warm and enjoy our
building site. Our future hopes are that the level of wonderful birds where you live.
disturbance on site will not force early fledge, and that
chicks will use the mitigations we have put in place to help Dr Beth Mott
them fledge and move to safe space to grow as young Powerful Owl Project Officer
fledglings. powerfulowl@birdlife.org.au
A previous chick from the north Sydney nest tree. A
younger sibling is soon to fledge in 2021.
Photo: M. Foley
Artist Pete Rush creating beautiful sculptures on
the Central Coast, to help bolster mental health.
Photo: J. Harrington
Jul 21 5
You can also read
