John,
On the 14 May, you asked about Masked Owl records from Southern
Queensland in recent times.
I'm not aware of any previous records around Pittsworth (27.43S,
151.36E), but Masked Owls are defintely a rarity around the Toowoomba
(27.35S, 151.54E) area. The Toowoomba Bird Observers (TBO) records area
as follows:
1. 4/10/90 pair Redwood Pk
2. 6/10/90 Redwood Pk
3. 20/4/91 Redwood Pk
4. 8/5/91 Redwood Pk
5. 10/12/91 Helidon
6. 24/6/92 Redwood Pk
7. 10/8/94 Helidon
Two of these were road-kills - one at Helidon and one at Redwood Park.
Our Records Officer also found a road-kill near Hampton, north of
Toowoomba, a few years ago.
As you can see there have been no local records for several years,
although various birders have continued to visit Redwood Park on a
regular basis. Redwood is one of several bushland parks located along
the Toowoomba escarpment, and is predominantly woodland with an
extensive area of dry vine scrub. Powerful, Sooty and Barking Owl, and
Black-breasted Button-Quail, have also been recorded there, although
recent records have been few and far between, perhaps because of the
prolonged drought in recent years.
In fact, TBO would be grateful for anyone who has more recent records of
these species and, for that matter, any other significant species in
this area, to contact us.
Regards
Michael Atzeni
07 4688 1318 (W)
07 4639 2761 (H)
|
