A feather glider has been reported in Namadgi but it’s unlikely to be found in Canberra. Susan Trost had pellets of Powl for 2015 examined. Sugar gliders were
by far the most common mammalian prey, followed by ringtails. It picked up a few young brushtails in spring, when they would have been easy pickings when travelling on their mothers’ backs. I don’t know of any reason to suppose the ringtails were young ones.
Unsurprisingly, no feather glider remains were reported.
John Bundock
0400249429
From: Philip Veerman [
Sent: Friday, 2 December 2016 11:34 AM
To: 'Mark Clayton'; 'David McDonald (personal)'; 'CanberraBirds'
Subject: RE: [canberrabirds] Symb–OWL–ism | National Library of Australia
Yes I thought so too.......... Do we even have any Feather-tailed Gliders in Canberra? And some of the Ringtail Possum were not young ones.
And using the word “family” to distinguish owls & nightjars, rather than to use the correct word “order”. As in “Frogmouths
and nightjars are often mistaken for owls but, while they do have some similarities in appearance and habits, they belong to a different family of birds.” More than that
they belong to a different order of birds.
Yes why no picture of our bird?
It also forgot to tell the story of the ANU sports club that named their mascot (or emblem) after “Powl”, issuing a statement to that effect but in doing so they
clearly used a picture of an Eagle Owl from the northern Hemisphere as the model for their artwork.
Philip
From: Mark Clayton
Sent: Friday, 2 December, 2016 11:19 AM
To: 'Philip Veerman'; 'David McDonald (personal)'; 'CanberraBirds'
Subject: RE: [canberrabirds] Symb–OWL–ism | National Library of Australia
Penny has made one mistake in her list of prey items – a Feather-tailed Glider would disappear in one beakful!! The species that Penny should have written was
Sugar Glider.
Mark
From: Philip Veerman
Sent: Friday, 2 December 2016 10:54 AM
To: 'David McDonald (personal)'; 'CanberraBirds'
Subject: RE: [canberrabirds] Symb–OWL–ism | National Library of Australia
Yes Penny clearly likes to write drawing together information from all over the place. But I wonder at this quote from there: “These
owls have asymmetrical skulls, with one ear opening higher and larger than the other; sound arrives at (minutely) different times at each ear. The Barn Owl’s feathery facial disc captures, amplifies and funnels sounds to the ear openings. If the owl hears
prey and turns its head so that the sound arrives at the same time in both ears, its prey is immediately in front of it.”. Is that really true? The connection between the
1st & 3rd sentence is surely that the asymmetrical ears means that it is the slight offset and the bird’s ability to move its head and judge so well, or judge that time difference, rather than being immediately in front, that gives the
greater perception. The issue being that if the sound is immediately in front, then it is not equal on both ears and that tiny difference is how it can locate it.
Philip
From: David McDonald (personal)
Sent: Friday, 2 December, 2016 9:47 AM
To: CanberraBirds
Subject: [canberrabirds] Symb–OWL–ism | National Library of Australia
Penny Olsen has written a delightful piece on owls, beautifully illustrated, with a focus on Powl, in the first edition of the National Library's new digital magazine,
Unbound:
http://www.nla.gov.au/unbound/symb-owl-ism-0
David
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David McDonald
1004 Norton Road
Wamboin NSW 2620
Australia
T: (02) 6238 3706
M: 0416 231 890
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