Tag:owls
Globally there are 250 species of owls; of this, 11 species are found in Australia. They are the Barn Owl, Barking Owl, Powerful Owl, Rufous Owl, Masked Owl, Morepork, Greater Sooty Owl, Lesser Sooty Owl, Eastern Grass Owl, Southern Boobook and Christmas Island Boobook.
Owls have long sparked our imaginations; their haunting night calls, silent flight, extraordinary hearing and deadly eyesight has seen them embedded in different cultures as symbols for magic, wisdom and mystery.
Bush Heritage
Characteristics
Owls are masters at silent flight. Their soft, uniquely structured feathers are serrated, affecting the movement of air over the wings. Additionally, the velvety surface of the feathers absorbs any sound made by flapping wings. Their silent flight allows them to pounce on prey with no warning. Owls have incredibly superior eyesight and hearing, and their forward-facing eyes grant them excellent depth perception, which is necessary for low-light hunting.
They can rotate their head 270 degrees, a vital asset when their eyes are fixed and cannot move within their sockets. In addition, their ears are asymmetrical on their head (at different heights on the side of their face), so the sounds reach each ear at different times, aiding them in identifying the exact location of their prey. Owls also have a facial disk around their eyes; this helps focus sounds to their ears, so they hear even the quietest sounds.
Behaviour
Owls are nocturnal (hunting only at night) though some are active at dawn and dusk. They are found in every state of Australia and vary significantly in size; they range from the smallest (Southern Boobook at 36cm tall and around 175g) to the largest (Powerful Owl at 60cm tall and 1.5kg). They live in various habitats, from snowy mountainous areas to deserts, from open wet forests to woodlands and grasslands. The Powerful Owl is territorial and has been known to attack humans, though most are solitary and shy.
Diet
Owls live on a diet of small to medium-sized mammals, birds and insects. Like most birds, they cannot chew and eat their prey whole or will tear off pieces with their powerful, sharp beaks if unable to do so. Some owls, such as the Sooty Owl, eat mainly tree-dwelling mammals such as sugar gliders and small possums. Others prefer land-dwelling lizards or mammals. Like other raptors, owls regurgitate the non-nutritious party of their prey. Several hours after eating, they will produce a pellet from their gizzards of fur and bone. They will then be ready to eat again.
Threats
Habit loss is the biggest threat to Australian owls as they rely on old-growth trees with hollows for nesting and breeding. These hollows take hundreds of years to form. Sadly, land clearing and bushfires are wiping out the hollows at an alarming rate. Another significant threat is secondary poisoning from eating prey such as foxes, feral cats, rabbits and rodents that have taken the bait. Poachers are also a concern, both as live specimens and eggs.
Status
No Australian owl species is on the national threatened species list. Some populations, however, such as the Powerful Owl in Victoria, are vulnerable, and the Masked owl is endangered in SA, Tasman and Victoria.
The Tawny Frogmouth is a species of Frogmouth native to Australia. Their species name, Strigoides, means owl-like. However, while nocturnal and carnivorous, Tawny Frogmouths aren’t owls. They are, in fact, more closely related to Nightjars.
Appearance
The Tawny Frogmouth is a stocky bird with a large head, rounded wings and short legs. They measure from 34cm for females to 53cm tall for males and weigh 680g. There are three distinct colour morphs, grey, chestnut and rufous, with grey being the most common in both sexes.
Grey males have silver-grey upperparts with black streaks and slightly paler underparts with white barring and brown mottling. Females of the grey morph are often darker with more rufous mottling. The eye is yellow, and the broad, heavy bill is olive-grey to blackish and hooked at the tip. It is topped with distinctive tufts of bristles. Southeastern Tawny Frogmouths are larger than their northern counterparts. The name Tawny Frogmouth came from their diet of frogs. They can live up to 14 years in the wild.
Differences to Owls
The Tawny Frogmouth is not an owl. It’s a night-jay or nighthawk. They have wide forward-facing beaks for catching insects, whereas owls have narrow downward-facing beaks used to tear prey apart. Their eyes are to the side of the face, while owls have eyes fully forward on the front. Owls have curved talons, but Tawny’s do not. However, like owls, they have soft feathers for stealthy, silent flight.
Camouflage
The Tawny Frogmouth exhibits one of the best examples of camouflage and visual mimicry of Australian birds. They perch low on a tree branch during the day, and their silver-grey plumage patterned with white, black and brown streaks, and mottles allow them to freeze into the form of a broken tree branch, rendering them practically invisible. They often sit on broken branches and thrust their head up at an acute angle to emphasise the resemblance to the broken branch.
Habitat and Distribution
The Tawny Frogmouth can be found in almost any habitat except dense rainforests and treeless deserts. They are common across forests, woodlands, and urban and rural areas throughout Australia, including Tasmania.
Diet
The bulk of the Tawny Frogmouth’s diet is nocturnal insects, worms, slugs and snails, small mammals, reptiles, frogs and birds. They take their prey by pouncing from an elevated perch to the ground. They catch flying insects such as moths while the insect is in flight.
Breeding
Tawny Frogmouths have a regular breeding season from August to December, and both sexes incubate the eggs. The male will sit on the eggs during the day. However, both sexes share the egg sitting duty at night. Once the chicks hatch, the whole family can be seen roosting on the same branch, side by side. The nest of the tawny frogmouth is a loose platform of sticks in a forked tree branch. As a rule, only one clutch of 2 to 3 eggs is raised per season. However, southern Tawny’s may have two. The breeding pair will mate for life and often stay in the same territory for ten years.
Threats
Carpet Pythons take Tawny Frogmouths while they are roosting. When hunting prey on the ground, they can be taken by feral cats, dogs or foxes. The biggest threat to them, however, is habitat loss. They are reluctant to move on even once their habitat is destroyed, whether through land clearing or bushfires. Secondary poisoning from pesticides used in termite control and rat poison also impact their numbers, especially in urban areas. In addition, being nocturnal, they are vulnerable to vehicle collision as they have been known to fly after insects illuminated by headlights.
Status
The Tawny Frogmouth is considered of least concern on the IUCN Red List of threatened species.
Kangaroo Island – One night in Penneshaw, 2 in Karratta and 2 in Kingscote…. could we see it all?
Monday
Unlike my first trip to KI when we flew in, we drove and took the Ferry this time. The Sealink ferry runs regular crossings that take 45 mins. No seasickness pills were needed this time. It was a lovely calm crossing, and it seemed we had no sooner cleared Cape Jervis than we were arriving in Penneshaw.
We had an afternoon ocean safari booked with the chance of seals, dolphins, sea eagles etc. However, while I saw seals aplenty, the dolphins didn’t come near the boat, and the birds had flown elsewhere.
We stayed the night at the Kangaroo Island Seafront. The next day, we headed off to the Raptor Domain for a private 2-hour showing.
Tuesday
From the Raptor domain, the next stop was Little Sahara. A naturally occurring dune system around 2sq kms in size near Vivonne bay.
Vivonne Bay & Seal Bay
After a quick stop for lunch, we headed to Vivonne Bay before heading back to Seal Bay for our private seal experience. Following a short talk by the ranger on seals and sea lions, we walked down the hill to the beach. Dozens of sea lions were relaxing on the sand.
Another short stop halfway. This came with a warning by the ranger that we had to stay together at all times. And if the ranger says move, she means right now! No kneeling if you can’t get up quickly (and probably at a run). The ranger also made it clear. It was a steep walk and unsuitable for anyone with heart conditions and bad knees. Many hands silently went up behind our back on the dicky knees proviso. But no, we all said, we’re good!! Let’s go!!
A full-grown male sea lion (a bull) can weigh up to 350kg, and a full-grown female can weigh 100kg. So I guess the move and move fast is relevant. At the end of the tour, it was time to head back up that steep hill we had all been warned about. Puffing and gasping, with two rest stops, we made back up! Finally, we headed to Western KI Caravan park, our home for the next two nights back in the cars.
Wednesday.
Up before the sparrows this time. We met at the exit gate of our accommodation at 5.30 am. And from there, and headed convoy style into the national park for sunrise at Remarkable Rocks. It was only a 23km drive but took over half an hour in the pitch dark. We crawled along at 50 kms an hr, dodging kangaroos and Cape Barren Geese walking across the road. Though near the Flinders Chase visitor centre, the geese had the good sense to use the pedestrian crossing.
Remarkable Rocks
From the car park, it’s a short flat walk along the boardwalk – then up onto the rocks to wander around. There is no fencing – no trespassing required. Access is open and permitted. The massive granite boulders have been shaped by wind and rain for 500 million years. They are covered with a red lichen that glows in the golden hour of sunrise or sunset.
Black mica, bluish quartz, and pinkish feldspar comprise most of the granite of Remarkable Rocks. These flat rocks are easy and safe to walk on during dry weather. But special caution should be taken when weather conditions become wet or windy. Strong winds and slippery rocks make it far easier to fall into the water.
With the sun well and truly up we headed back to our cabins for breakfast. Then, well fed, we drove back into the park again- making for Admirals Arch and Cape du Coeudic lighthouse. First stop after breakfast was Cape du Coeudic lighthouse. A stunning sandstone lighthouse (everything in SA seems to be made from sandstone ? ) with a pretty red cap. Its the only lighthouse I have ever seen with wide steps leading up and a double door entry. The need for a lighthouse in that area had been a great one for many years, as the treacherous waters already claimed 5 ships and 79 lives.
Kangaroo Island
The Cape du Couedic Lighthouse was constructed between 1906-1909 and was the fifteenth to be built on South Australia’s coast. It was also the last light to be built in South Australia. The tower itself was built from 2,000 pieces of local stone. Three four roomed cottages were also built of local stone with slate roofs for the head keeper and two assistants.
Lighthouses of Australia
Thursday
We had been down the National Park end for two days, and it was time to head back to Kingscote. Civilisation, mobile reception, supermarkets and cafes…. our planned route would take us past King George Beach, Snelling Beach, and Stokes Bay. We left the camp by 9 am and headed down towards the national park before making a right and taking the long dirt road. This road would take us to South Coast Road and Snelling Beach and onto Stokes Bay – 72 kms of dirt road.
Stokes Bay
The first order of business was lunch, then over to the hole in the wall that leads to the beach. A small sign on the boulders says ‘beach’ with an arrow. Unfortunately, I forgot to take a photo. Head through the tunnel of boulders and come out the other side onto the ‘secret’ beach.
Friday
While we headed out for sunrise again today. It was a complete fizzer with socked-in grey skies.
American River
Leaving the pier area, we returned to our cabins for breakfast before striking out again to American River and Cape Willoughby. Unfortunately, American River was a disappointment. Overcast grey skies didn’t help. But we only saw a few solitary pelicans, an old rusting boat and a few anglers.
We drove down to the Dudley Peninsula and Cape Willoughby Lighthouse from American River. By now, the sun was shining, and blue skies prevailed.
Cape Willoughby was the first lighthouse to be erected in South Australia, and lights the Backstairs Passage between Kangaroo Island and the mainland. Established in 1852, the Cape Willoughby Lighthouse, originally known as the Sturt Light after Captain Charles Sturt, is the oldest in South Australia. It is set on the eastern extremity of Kangaroo Island.
Lighthouses Of Australia
From the lighthouse, we headed back to American River for lunch. Friday, midday, everything is closed 🙁 So we went back to Kingscote and finally got lunch mid-afternoon. From there, it was back to the cabins for some downtime before venturing for another disappointing sunset before our last night’s dinner.
Saturday
We were returning to Victoria today and booked on the 10 am Ferry. I wanted to stop off at Pennington Bay on the way back to Penneshaw. So we left a bit earlier to fit that in
We arrived at the terminal in good time – and loading was easy and quick. While we did miss a few things – we covered just 2,876kms from when we left home until we got back. We saw all we planned to see (except those damn elusive sunrise and sunsets). Kangaroo Island is a fabulous spot for a holiday – more so if you are into photography. I would highly recommend you plan a trip there.