I am a little unsure if you are aware that the behaviour of “It
looked like it was having a big yawn, but it seems it was doing some
regurgitating (clearing its crop?). At one point something fell from
its mouth” is a regular, probably daily occurrence of (all?) owls (and some
other birds). Owls produce pellets, usually of the bones and other hard bits,
covered in the fur or feathers, of whatever their meal was. By analysis of
these pellets, it is an easy way to find out what they are eating..........
(most owls are not as convenient as this species is, to hold onto their prey
for a day - that lets us see what they are eating).
This one seems to favour hunting the Sugar Gliders and birds
rather than Brush-tailed Possums, which is also a regular prey. Surely or I am
thinking, it is taking the former rather disproportionately............ Maybe
the smaller ones are easier.
Philip
From: Matthew Willis
[
Sent: Tuesday, 5 May 2015 11:12 PM
To: Geoffrey Dabb
Cc: CanberraBirds
Subject: Re: FW: [canberrabirds] Powl left us??
Great shot as always.
I visited the Powl on Saturday afternoon (I have tried
posting this before but it keeps getting rejected). It looked like it was
having a big yawn, but it seems it was doing some regurgitating (clearing its
crop?). At one point something fell from its mouth - I had a look on the ground
below but couldn't find anything (perhaps caught up in the bush.
On Tue, May 5, 2015 at 5:55 PM, Geoffrey Dabb <>
wrote:
Possibly
-----Original Message-----
From: Terry Bird [
Sent: Tuesday, 5 May 2015 4:48 PM
To: Barbara Preston
Cc: COG List
Subject: Powl left us??
Confined to home today but it certainly was there yesterday in late
afternoon perched high in second oak tree. Believe me, sometimes it is hard to
detect. I was helped yesterday by two scientific types from CSIRO and we all
agreed that a brush tailed possum was clutched within it's talons which appears
contrary to feeding habits in my field guide. Any other views ?
