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Barking Owl (m) |
It was a delight to catch up with a pair of Barking Owls in the
Conondale Range in Queensland's Sunshine Coast hinterland. The owls
were discovered several weeks ago by a resourceful young Sunshine
Coast naturalist, Ollie Scully, in Conondale National Park. Over many
years in the field in the Conondales, I hadn't encountered this
species previously.
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Barking Owl (f) |
The birds are surprisingly in wet sclerophyll forest, a habitat
not normally associated with the species. The forest had a sprinkling
of Cabbage Tree Palm, a tree often present at Barking Owl sites in
coastal Queensland. I found the male bird late in the afternoon of
my visit this week roosting high in a Blackbutt; the female was
nowhere to be seen and may have been on a nest. The pair called
together for about 10 minutes at sunset, and the male called briefly
later that night. Just before dawn, both birds were calling from the
same spot as the previous evening, again for about 10 minutes.
I thought they must be attending a nest when, an hour or so after
sunrise, they called about 300m away in a Hoop Pine plantation. The
pair were found roosting together high in the pines for about an hour
until I left them.
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Barking Owl pair (female top, male bottom) |
I've been
arguing
the case to restore a large area of endangered subtropical
lowland rainforest in Imbil State Forest, which adjoins Conondale
National Park, by converting the state forest to a conservation area.
The plan involves stopping the logging of Hoop Pine plantations so
they can regenerate as rainforest. When Conondale National Park was
substantially extended by the former state Labor government, it
included several small areas of Hoop Pine plantation which are no
longer logged.
A couple of such plantations are in or close to the Barking Owl
territory. There's no doubt that old-growth plantation adjoining
rainforest is
attractive
to birds. Critics claim that
if
left unlogged, the plantations would become “weed, pest and
fire haven junk heaps”. There's no sign of that at this site, like
many others where plantations have not been logged for several
decades. On the contrary, there is a rich and diverse understory of
rainforest plants, including good numbers of mature Piccabeen Palm
and other trees.
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Hoop Pine plantation, Conondale National Park |
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Hoop Pine plantation, Conondale National Park |
The adjoining wet sclerophyll forest has an unusually large number
of old-growth Blackbutt, Rose Gum and other trees.
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Towering Blackbutt, Conondale National Park |
During my evening
there I had a Sooty Owl calling that was seen briefly. Southern
Boobook and Marbled Frogmouth were present. Other birds included
Paradise Riflebird, Wompoo Fruit-Dove, Australian Logrunner, Crested Shrike-tit, Russet-tailed Thrush and Satin
Bowerbird.
Ebird
list.
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Marbled Frogmouth |
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Satin Bowerbird |
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Southern Boobook |
Several Yellow-bellied Gliders were heard shrieking at sunset and
a couple of Greater Gliders were later spotted. Amphibians included a
Great Barred Frog, with quite a few Cascade Tree-Frogs and Tusked
Frogs also about.
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Great Barred Frog |
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Greater Glider |
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