Powerful owls must adjust their behaviour to cope with urbanisation. 1) is a characteristic species that illustrates issues that are common in many other cases. The finding of unexpectedly large foraging ranges suggests that enhancement of habitat quality and mammalian prey abundance in currently occupied home-ranges is the foremost goal for forest managers if a viable population is to be sustained. This paper takes as its case-study the challenge of designing artificial habitats for the powerful owl ( Ninox strenua) in greater Melbourne. Selection of roosting sites was flexible and did not constrain spatial use of home-range, with 96% of roosts in very small to medium-sized trees, which are widely distributed. Core foraging areas comprised many, typically small, patches scattered across the entire home-range. Range-length was 5.7–8.9 km, and on average 5–12% of each home-range was used during a single night. 265-276 in Ecology and Conservation of Owls, ed. Home-range size was much greater than previously assumed for this species (minimum convex polygon of 4774, 2896, 17 ha). Response to habitat fragmentation by the Powerful Owl ( Ninox strenua), Sooty Owl ( Tyto tenebricosa) and Masked Owl ( Tyto novaehollandiae) and other nocturnal fauna in southeastern Australia. Note that images and other media featured on this page are each governed by their own license, and they may or may not be available for reuse.
Four adult Powerful Owls (two males and two females) from four pairs occupying geographically separate territories in box-ironbark forest were radio-tracked over 1–6 months. The TEXT of this page is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License - Version 3.0. Previous research has shown that Powerful Owls select home-ranges with more large trees and hollows than the forest at large, but the amount of such habitat that is required remained undefined. Cooke R, Wallis R, Hogan F, White J, Webster A (2006) The diet of Powerful Owls (Ninox strenua) and prey availability in a continuum of habitats from disturbed urban fringe to protected forest environments in south-eastern Australia. The Powerful Owl, which was formerly reliant on these prey species, still persists in the region but at very low densities and uncertain viability. Council’s latest Environment Levy Land Acquisition Program purchase, 62-124 Crosby Hill Rd, is one of the largest remaining vegetated lots in the Buderim area and home to tall habitat trees along with a number of the Coast’s protected plant and animal species, including the biggest owl in Australia - the powerful owl (Ninox strenua). Since European settlement of Australia, the dry open forests and woodlands of central Victoria have been extensively cleared and most large trees harvested, resulting in a decline of arboreal mammal populations.