Australian adventure relys on a beautiful environment and an adundance of magical animals such as owls. Sooty owls are one to keep an eye out for when on adventure vacations Australia or adventure travel Australia. As their name suggests, these owls are a dark sooty-grey colour, with large eyes set in a heart-shaped face. In fact they have the largest eyes and roundest wings of all the masked owls, and the shortest tail of any Australia owl. All these features are well suited to a life in dense, dimly lit rainforest.
Sooty owls, like many other owls, are able to fly in absolute silence. This is due to the comb-like leading edge of the primary wing feathers, called “flutings” or “fimbriae”. When a normal bird is in flight, air rushes over the surface of the wing and creates turbulence, resulting in a gushing sound. When an owl is in flight, the fringe-like feather edge breaks down the turbulence. This effectively muffles the sound of air rushing over the wing and allows the owl to fly silently. Silent flight is invaluable, allowing the owl to hunt by stealth and also to use its hearing to locate its prey.
Sooty owls are difficult to locate by sight and are more often identified by their distinctive call. It is described as a piercing downscale shriek, lasting for two seconds or more. It has been likened to the sound of a falling bomb (minus the final explosion) and is therefore referred to as a “bomb whistle”.
Sooty owls roost in pairs by day in a tree hollow or heavy vegetation, then hunt by night for small mammals, such as possums, gliders, bandicoots and rodents. These secretive birds are rarely seen or heard, but when disturbed, a sooty owl will crouch, spread its wings, sway from side to side, hiss and snap its bill!
These owls may have been breeding in recent months, and with any luck, are now tending to their nests, which they build in the hollows of tall trees. The female lays one or two eggs, which are incubated for about 42 days. The male takes good care of his mate, bringing her food so that she rarely needs to leave the nest. Although the young are completely dependent on their parents for the first month of their lives, they can fly within three months.
Mature trees with hollows are very important to this species, and national park helps to protect the rainforest and wet eucalypt forest where these owls are found. One way you can help the sooty owl at home is to ensure you don’t use pesticides which could be consumed by a small mammal and then in turn consumed by the owls. If you do need to use a bait, select one that is not harmful to non-target animals.