Entry 6 - Australian Owls
Australia's endless desire for land clearing is putting all our native species at risk, including owls. 10 of our 11 species of owl require large hollow bearing trees in order to breed. When large masses of forest are being cleared; not every tree is checked for life and is not until the machines stop and someone takes the time to walk through an area that they lay witness to the destruction that is never spoken about.
Eastern Grass Owls call areas such as wetlands home and are Australia's only ground nesting owl species. As their wetlands disappear through land clearing they have adapted to other environments such as agricultural lands; often nesting in sugar cane and maize crops where they can control rodent populations. However with this comes other issues as when these crops are harvested in puts nests in danger and pushes the birds onto roads where they fall victim to car strikes or die of injuries causing by farming equipment.
Whilst the Australian Boobook is the smallest owl species found in Australia; they are suffering through land clearing and habitat fragmentation. This is pushing birds to their limits as they now have to hunt in a new environment; an urban one. As the move throughout what was once lush forest is now a highway of no return for some individuals.
Eastern Barn Owls have become victims to over-use of rodenticides when more education is required to tell the public they are a natural form of rodent control.
Rodenticides are the slow release killers of our owl species. They build up within the owls blood system and slowly kill them from the inside. As the poisons take control, the owls become weaker. They start acting weird, they start looking for food that is easier to catch. Roadkill becomes an option even for secretive species such as this Australian Masked Owl who met its demise attending to a dead rat on the road.
A Powerful Owl lies "powerless" as it succumbs to a car strike. Australia's largest owl measuring 65cm tall and a wingspan of 1.5 metres is no match for an oncoming vehicle. These threatened species have adapted well to an urban landscape but there is a high price to pay for living here. Owls that live in urban environments have a higher mortality rate than those living in undisturbed forests.