OWL PHOTOGRAPHED
IN COLLEGE COURTYARD!

An owl was recently seen, and photographed, happily perched in the College courtyard. The owl pictured is a ‘Powerful Owl’ (Ninox strenua). It is a species of owl native to south-eastern and eastern Australia, the largest owl on our continent. It is found in coastal areas, the Great Dividing Range no more than 200 km inland. The owl at school was big, about the size of a football! The Powerful Owl has large yellow eyes, grey-brown V-barring on all features and dull yellow feet. They are aptly named, with very powerful and heavy claws. The Powerful Owl is listed as threatened on the Victorian  Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act (1988). Habitat includes mountain and coastal forests, gullies, forest margins, woodlands including sparse hilly woodlands, scrub,  plantations and urban and rural parks and gardens.The Powerful Owl is a large nocturnal predator of forest country which feeds principally on possums and gliders. Pairs will create nests in hollows of mature or dead trees to raise two or three chicks which take at least two years to reach maturity.