There
are a few different types
of owls in Australia.
Owls are nocturnal birds of prey. They’ve got similar features to the
diurnal raptors
- a hooked bill, strong feet, excellent eyesight
and hearing, and specialised feathers that allow silent flight.
Owls
around the world are famous for their calls, but most of Australian
owls don’t sound like the owls of the Northern Hemisphere. Only the
largest Australian Hawk Owl makes a vague owl sound, and the Barking
Owl
does a doglike barking, but most of the rest are sitting quietly in
their perch as they look out for a prey on the ground.
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Types of Owls in Australia
There are a few different types of owls in Australia.
Masked Owl (Tyto
novaehollandiae) is found along all Australian coasts except
the
Pilbara region in Western
Australia. It lives in forest and woodland
and roosts in caves and tree hollows.
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Barn Owl (Tyto
alba) is found almost everywhere
in Australia but breeds mainly in eastern parts of the continent. It
lives in grasslands, crops, and riparian and open woodland and roosts
in tree hollows, caves and buildings. Grass Owl
(Tyto
capensis) is found in inland areas of Queensland,
Northern Territory, South
Australia and New South Wales, where it lives
in tussock grasslands, swampy heath, crops and cane fields.
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Powerful Owls
eat possums
and require large territories to find
enough food. Rufous Owl
replaces Powerful Owl in the tropics, where it is the largest nocturnal
predator in rainforests. The best way to see owls is spotlighting
during the night.
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Sooty Owl (Tyto tenebricosa)
is found along the coast of south-eastern Australia between Brisbane
and Melbourne,
where it lives in gullies in tall wet forests and roosts in caves and
tree hollows. The smaller Lesser Sooty Owl
(Tyto
multipunctata) is found in tropical rainforests in far north
Queensland between Cairns
and Cooktown.
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Types of Owls in Australia: Nightjars
Nightjars are also owls. White-throated Nightjar
(Eurostopodus
mystacalis) lives in forests and woodland along the whole
coast of
eastern Australia, between Melbourne and Cape
York.
Spotted Nightjar
(Eurostopodus argus) lives in large areas of inland
Australia,
and on coasts except the Nullarbor coast in south, and the eastern
coast between Townsville
and the Victoria-South Australia
border. Its habitats include scrubs, deserts, open forest and
woodland. Large Tailed Nightjar (Caprimulgus
macrurus) is only found on the eastern coast between Bundaberg
and Karumba;
and the
northern coast of the Top End
of Northern
Territory. Australian
Owlet Nightjar (Aegotheles cristatus)
is a common
nightjar and lives in tree hollows almost everywhere in Australia,
including Tasmania.
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Places to See Australian Nightjars
Some good places to see Australian owls are Yarra Ranges National Park
in Victoria,
Julatten in far north Queensland,
and Border Ranges National Park in New
South Wales.
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Types of Owls in Australia: Frogmouths
Frogmouths are nocturnal birds of prey that are often thought to be
owls, however they are only vaguely related. There are
three species of Frogmouths in Australia. Papuan
Frogmouth
(Podargus papuensis) is only found in the coastal
areas of Cape
York peninsula in far
north Queensland, where it lives in mangroves
and rainforests, often near water. Marbled Frogmouth
(Podargus
ocellatus) has an even smaller range on the eastern coast of
Cape
York, and the coastal areas around Brisbane in Queensland.
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Tawny
Frogmouth (Podargus strigoides)
is a
common frogmouth and is found everywhere in Australia
(including Tasmania),
except the waterless plains of inland Western Australia. Tawny
Frogmouth is about 40cm-long grey bird with a large log-like head,
yellow eyes and a broad bill. It is perfectly camouflaged and looks
like a big log or a broken branch. It lives in forests and woodlands,
mallee, tree-lined watercourses, parks and gardens. Tawny Frogmouths
have small
permanent territories and often use the same place to roost day after
day. After dark they start hunting by perching and dropping on a prey
on the ground. Tawny Frogmouths eat large insects,
molluscs, crustaceans, frogs and small mammals. They live in permanent
pairs and are often seen together or at least close to each other.
Female lays 1-3 eggs between August and November which hatch after 29
days. Tawny Frogmouths sound "oom-oom-oom" which can continue for a
half an hour.
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Places to See Australian Frogmouths
Some good places to see Tawny Frogmouths are Royal National Park south
of Sydney
in New South Wales, Brisbane Ranges in
Victoria and Carnarvon
Gorge National Park in Queensland.
Note:
This site uses
British English, which is the English we use in Australia. You will
find words like "traveller", "harbour" and "realise", and they are all
correct in the language used in Australia.
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