SNN (ScrollingNetworkNews) ✿ ✿ Our Mel and Sydney returned to their nesting box with plenty of bonding occurring..but after 2.5 months of Sydney in the box from Dec 2013 to mid Feb 2014, the lack of prey gifts from Mel ( perhaps due to the severe and historic drought underway in California)and they have forgone the nesting process this year as many other raptors ✿ Compared to other owls of similar size, the Barn Owl has a much higher metabolic rate, requiring relatively more food. Pound for pound, Barn Owls consume more rodents – often regarded as pests by humans – than possibly any other creature. ✿ We remind viewers that sometimes owlets may not survive - the parents will dispose of things in "The Owl Way" -viewer discretion is advised, this is nature and the "Owl way". ✿ ~ ✿ “Animals, like us, are living souls. They are not things. They are not objects. Neither are they human. Yet they mourn. They love. They dance. They suffer. They know the peaks and chasms of being.” ― Gary Kowalski, The Souls of Animals ✿ Each species is a masterpiece, a creation assembled with extreme care and genius." ~ E.O. Wilson

Friday, January 6, 2012

Unusual Feeding Behavior by Norfolk Island Boobooks Owl

Staff at the Norfolk Island National Park and Botanic Garden have photographed unusual behavior by Norfolk Island Boobook Owls. As these images show, the birds are hunting in broad daylight - something unheard of with the Southern Boobook, the species to which the Norfolk birds belongs. The hunting by Boobooks of large rodents is also regarded as highly unusual, as the species feeds primarily on insects.
The population of the Norfolk Island Boobook had been reduced to just one female until she bred successfully with two male Boobooks introduced from New Zealand. National park manager Coral Rowston reports that the population is now about 40.
Queensland's Sunshine Coast is emerging as one of the best parts of Australia to see many rare and difficult-to-find birds and other animals.

From Wikipedia, click on read more



The Southern Boobook (Ninox novaeseelandiae), also called the Mopoke, Morepork, Ruru or Tasmanian Spotted Owl, is a small brown owl found throughout New Zealand, Tasmania, across most of mainland Australia and in Timor, southern New Guinea and nearby islands. The Southern Boobook is the smallest of Australia's owls.


The bird has almost 20 alternative common names, most of which – including Mopoke, Morepork, Ruru and Boobook – are onomatopoeic, as they emulate the bird's distinctive two-pitched call.
Two subspecies, the Lord Howe Boobook and the Norfolk Island Boobook both became extinct during the 20th century.
It occurs in most habitats with trees, ranging from deep tropical forests to isolated stands at the edges of arid zones, farmland, or alpine grasslands, but is most common in temperate woodland. They are usually seen singly, in pairs, or in small family groups of an adult pair and up to three young.
Although mainly nocturnal, they are sometimes active at dawn and dusk. The main hunting times are evenings and mornings, with brief bursts of activity through the night. On dark nights they often perch through the middle hours and, particularly if the weather is bad, may hunt by daylight instead.
Although their main hunting technique is perch-and-pounce, they are agile birds with a swift, goshawk-like wing action and the ability to manoeuvre rapidly when pursuing prey or hawking for insects. Almost any suitably sized prey is taken, particularly small birds, mammals and large insects such as moths, grasshoppers and, in New Zealand, wetas.
During the day, moreporks sleep in roosts. By night they hunt a variety of animals – mainly large invertebrates including scarab and huhu beetles, moths and caterpillars, wētā and spiders. They also take small birds, rats and mice.