Boobook: Volume 18

FROM THE PRESIDENT
RAPTOR FILE
	Rat Baiting in Cane fields and Poisoning of Wildlife
	Owl Boxes a Hoot for Cane fields
	The use of Artificial Perches to Increase Predation on House Mice by Raptors
	Barn Owls in Florida Cane Fields
	Wildlife, People and Contaminants
	Mortality Causes in Barn Owls in Britain and the Role of Rodenticides
	Effects of Pesticides on Owls in North America
	Comparative Study of General Public Owl Knowledge in Central America and Africa
	Non-Territorial Floaters in Great Horned Owls
	Broadcast Surveys, Are they a Hoot?
	Manitoba’s Volunteer Based Nocturnal Owl Survey 1991-1995
	Intra- and Interspecific Calling in a Tropical Owl
	Estimation of Food Consumption from Pellet Casting by the Ural Owl
	World Distribution of Owlaholics
	The Importance of Old Growth Refugia in the Yukon Boreal Forest to Cavity Nesting Owls
	Using Tape Playback of the Staccato Song to Document Boreal Owl Reproduction
	Falconers and Raptor Conservation
	Raptor Rehabilitation - Discussing Rehabilitation Methods
	Treatment of Injured Raptors
	Homeopathics for Bumblefoot
	Haemoproteus in Raptors
	Native American Style Items Cause Eagles to be Killed for Profit
	Eagle Man Slates Wildlife Attitudes
	Fine Sport Fellas
	Slaughter of Eagles
	Eagle Adopted by the Australian Defence Force
	The Coopers Hawk
	Western Power Helps Rescue Broome Ospreys
	Kites Fly Over the South West Desert
	Bird Strike - Bird Hazard Management at Melbourne Airport
	A Strategy for Survival?
	Shooting Down the Sceptics
	Update on Chatham Sea Eagle
	Fledgling Film Career for High Rise Chicks
	Morphometrics of the Wedge-tailed Eagle
FIELD NOTES
	Pass the Salt Please
	Swamp Harriers Breeding in North Queensland
	The Trials of Quarry Nesting Peregrine Falcons
	Mortality of the Barn Owl in Central Spain
	Eagle Takes Black Cockatoo
	Peregrine Falcon Attempts to Catch Magpie Goose
	Terrorism and Kestrels
	Home range, Habitat and Behaviour of the Masked Owl Near Newcastle NSW
	Forest Structure and Prey Abundance in Foraging Areas of Northern Goshawks
	The Influence of Broadcast Tape-recorded calls on Captures of Fall Immigrant Northern Saw-Whet Owls and Long Eared Owls
	Polygamy in Snowy Owls
	Nest Defence Behaviour in Snowy Owls
	Foraging and Feeding Behaviour of Nesting Peregrine Falcons in the Wasaka Bay
	Cooperative Breeding and Delayed Dispersal in the Pale Chanting Goshawk
	Nesting Density, Nest Area Reoccupancy and Monitoring Implications for Cooper’s Hawks in Wisconsin
	An Unusual Case of Breeding Co-operation in the Marsh Harrier
	Hesitant Hunting
	Sea Eagle Sorties
	Eyeballing a Baza
	City Slick’n Goshawk
	Raven Shoulders out Brown Falcon
	Falcon found fighting fit after falling foul of Ford Falcon!
	Brown Goshawk Takes ringtail Possum
	Wedge Tailed Eagle Attacks Cat
	Peregrine ‘Grounds’ Wedgies
	Wedge Tailed Eagle takes Sulphur Crested Cockatoo
	Eagles as Thick as Flies
	Raptors and the Drought in Central Queensland
	Brown Falcon Behaviour
	The Fox and the Eagle
	Where Eagles Soar
	Frazer Island Raptors
	Osprey Scales Fish
	Chirruping by Southern Boobooks
	Collared Sparrowhawk Behaviour
	Black Falcons near Geelong
	Wedge Tailed Eagle Attacks Channel Billed Cuckoo
	Southern Boobook Hawking for Insects
	Kestrels and Cotton Farming
	Maatsuyker Malais
	Wedgies and Choppers
	Little Eagle in Fremantle
	Paddling Raptors
	Bazarre Case of the Invisible Raptor
	Siblicide in the Japanese Goshawk
	Multiple Male Breeding of the Gray-Faced Buzzard Eagle
	Caching Behaviour of the Japanese Lesser Sparrowhawk
	Stealing of Cached prey of a Japanese Sparrowhawk by Azure Winged Magpies
	Hunting Peregrines
	Square-Tailed Kite Observations
	Co-operative Hunting of a Wedge Tailed Eagle
	Silhouette Eats Mouse
	Diet of the Southern Boobook on the North Coast of NSW
	Golden Eagle Predation on Pronghorns in Wyoming’s Great Divide Basin
	Behaviour and Diet of the Barking Owl in South Eastern Queensland
	Notes on the Diet of the Barn Owl in NSW
	Notes on Sanford’s Sea Eagle and other Raptors in the Solomon Islands
	Hacking Harriers
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
	The Captive Barn Owl Crisis in Britain
	Raptor Damage and Nuisance Problems in the United States
	The Rise and Fall of Osprey Populations in the Great Lakes Basin
	Swainson’s Hawk Mortality in Argentina
	Swainson’s Hawk Recovery
	ARC Saves Black Shouldered Kites after Mass Poisoning
	Mass Poisoning of Lappet Faced Vultures in Namibia
	It’s Battle of Britain as 80,000 Pigeons Die
	Congo Bay Owl Rediscovered
	High Tech Raptor Watching
	Urban Breeding Sites of Peregrine Falcons
	Condors Return to Arizona
	California Condor Birthday
	Condor Management Program
	Nest Selection by Bonneli’s Eagle in Granada
	Reproductive Aspects of the Spanish Imperial Eagle and the Golden Eagle in Eastern Sierra Morena
	Fourth Time Lucky for Golden Eagles
	Aplomado Falcon Successe

This year was marked by important "milestones" in the career's of three of the ARA's inaugural members. Firstly, I am pleased to announce that Stephen Debus was unanimously voted by the Executive to become our first Life Member. Stephen, a past Editor and perpetual New South Wales Representative, was a leading force behind establishing this organisation and has made a tremendous contribution to the knowledge of Australasian raptors through innumerable publications. In addition, Stephen has become a veritable "library on legs", one of the countries leading authorities on raptor research and conservation literature which has made him a valuable resource as an editor of the raptorial sections of Birds Australia's epic tome, Handbook Australian , New Zealand and Antarctic Birds. However, this contribution pales into insignificance compared with the letters, notes and kind criticisms which Nick (Ed.), Peter (Tres.) and I have received over the years, for which we have dubbed Steve as "Mad Dog" Debus.

Secondly, this year saw our matriarch (sorry Penny I couldn't think of a better word!) Penny Olsen be awarded the Birds Australia, D.L. Serventy Medal for her contribution to scientific knowledge of Australian birds. I doubt there would be too many members who would not be familiar with Penny's work over the years, and with four books and over 70 refereed publications under her belt there are few more deserving of this prestigious award. What is not directly recognised through this award, but nevertheless an important contributing quality, has been her value as a mentor . Researchers, students and amateur members alike have gained useful guidance and encouragement from Penny on a wide variety of subjects. Indeed, without her personable approach and sound judgement, we would without doubt be a poorer organisation. Well done Penny!

Finally, this year saw the resignation of David Baker-Gabb as Director of Birds Australia. Strangely, this is an event worthy of celebration, not in any sense that David left the position, but the journey which he has set for the organisation. When he took over the reins at Birds Australia (then the RAOU) it was still very much an amateur organisation but showing desperate signs that it needed to break out into the professional world. The old house at Moonee Ponds was straining and groaning under the shear weight of literature and keen birdos, in fact I think there must have been a case for a Guiness Book of Records nomination for the highest density of ornithologists. This, however, was problematic because no one was ever sure how many were in there and they couldn't design a suitable sampling technique to account for all the variables. David was acutely aware of this problem, mainly because he feared that one day while cleaning out some little know recess of Gladstone Street that he might come across the desiccated remains of a long forgotten staff member! In 1995, Birds Australia moved to its new spacious home at Riversdale Road which became the stimulus for the organisation to grow and reach new levels of professionalism. One of the greatest contributions which David brought to the Directorship was his enthusiasm for bird conservation and the advocacy role he played in instigating new projects and fund raising. This culminated in the purchase of Birds Australia's first conservation property, the Murray Mallee Reserve just prior to David's resignation. In addition, he saw his resignation as a perfect time to force the organisation another rung up the corporate ladder by ensuring that his replacement be more business orientated to be able to manage such a large and complex organisation. While it is sad to see him leave "Paper Bag" will no doubt continue to make a significant contribution to bird conservation (hopefully with the ARA and Birds Australia) and we wish him all the best for the future. Cheers Dave!

The Osprey may be endangered in some parts of the world, but one of WA’s biggest corporations is doing its bit to ensure it has a safe haven in Broome.

Western Power has joined forces with Broome Shire Council and other groups to construct a platform specially designed for Osprey looking for somewhere to breed.

Although the State’s major power supplier is involved in a number of environmental projects, it had a special interest in the magnificent birds.

“Ospreys have actually been dicing with death or serious injury by attempting to nest on the crossarms of power poles,” explained Western Power’s Regional Division’s Environment Officer Geoff Risby. “This nesting habit was also threatening power supplies in the area.

“Ospreys pair for life and use the same nest year after year. But when your chosen nesting site is a power pole, that can be a dangerous business.”

Western Power staff linked up with local experts at the Broome Bird Observatory to understand better the problem - there are four breeding pairs only in the Broome area but apparently there is still a shortage of good nesting sites.

Western Power staff have been forced to discourage Ospreys from power poles in the Streeters Jetty area by removing the Osprey’s sticks from the power poles. Extra devices to discourage birds from landing and settling on the poles are to be fitted in the Streeters Jetty area in coming weeks.

That location wasn’t suitable for the platform because of its proximity to the airport. The new location is adjacent to Town Beach at the end of Robinson Street.

“We hope the birds will fly on from Streeters Jetty to the new platform, enjoying the design-built breeding structure and panoramic views,” Geoff Risbey said.

“In fact, we’re thrilled to hear from a local ornithologist that Osprey have already been sighted on the platform.

“we’d like to give credit and thanks, not only to our own staff and the council, but to the Broome Bird Observatory, the Rubibi Land, Heritage and Development Working Group, the Society for the Preservation of Raptors Inc and the Broome Airport.

Many people mistakenly regard conservation as an elitist luxury which runs counter to human interests. Here Dr Peter Apps refutes five of the most commonly heard and misguided beliefs.

A recent piece of hack journalism in the South African Farmers’ Weekly raised a howl of protest from conservationists, because it turned an acknowledgment that the underlying problem in conservation is human population growth into an argument that large animals should be removed to make way for agriculture, or just allowed to go extinct.

Meanwhile, the ANC (African National Congress) and PAC (Pan African Congress) are uncomfortably sympathetic towards appeals that cattle should be allowed to graze in the Kruger National Park, and part of the Augrabies National Park has already been returned to its former inhabitants.

We can no longer take it for granted that conservation enjoys wide public and official sympathy. We should be ready to answer the sceptics’ challenges. Here are some of them:

People are more important than rhinos/elephants/lions etc: This is true, but it has nothing to do with conservation strategy, because it compares apples to oranges. The survival of the human species is more important than the survival of any other species. But conservation enhances mankind’s prospects of survival by maintaining the earth’s support systems.

From a human perspective, at the level of individuals, a rhino’s life is less important than a human life: that is why guards are armed. But in conservation, the choice is not between a dead person and a dead animal, but between a whole species becoming extinct (or losing their habitat, which amounts to the same thing), and a certain number of people suffering some kind of inconvenience. Rhinos are a luxury, in that we do not need them to sustain life. Art, music, sport and all other forms of entertainment, keeping pets, swimming pools, cars and planes and almost every other element of the consumer lifestyle fall into exactly the same category.

If national parks are to be planted with cabbages, then we should also plough up football pitches, cricket grounds and golf courses. Conservation is not a special case; the presence of ‘natural’ areas improves the quality of life of other people. Conservation is a special case in that the development of natural areas irrevocably deprives future generations of the opportunity to enjoy them.

Wild animals and plants are sources of useful materials. Good examples are the Madagascar periwinkle, which provides a cure for childhood leukemia; Pacific yew trees, source of the anti-cancer drug Taxol, and the Indian Neen Tree, which provides a natural insecticide.

It would be better to use conservation areas to grow food: About 6 per cent of South Africa’s land surface is taken up with national parks and nature reserves, and another six per cent by private reserves. If the national parks were turned over to agriculture, food production would only increase by about six per cent, as most parks have only marginal agricultural potential. Our potential growth of 2.6% per year would swallow the increase in food production in two or three years. In arid areas, the sustainable meat production potential of mixed species game populations is three times as high as stock farming.

Conservation areas should be developed to make money: Before Madikwe in the North West province was established as an eco tourism area, a study was performed of the financial implications of the various development options for the area. It produced some interesting figures. Running cattle on the land would have brought in a gross income of R2,500,000. Tourism can bring in R2,743,000. If the area were turned over to cattle, 80 jobs would be created. The tourist option will create up to 1,214 jobs. These figures are fairly typical. Luxury wildlife tourism is the most profitable use of the 80 to 90% of land in southern Africa which is not irrigable farm land, and does not have significant mineral resources. Londolozi alone makes nearly R10 million a year. Ecotourism is indefinitely sustainable, which agriculture, mining and forestry are not.

It is wrong to move people to make room for animals: People are not moved to make way for animals alone. Animals are just part of conservation. People are also displaced when roads, power stations and cities are built. It is a basic working principle of ‘western’ civilisation that the rights and immediate interests of individuals can be overridden by the needs of society as a whole.

As human numbers grow, conservation is bound to fail in the long term, so we may as well give up now: Even without AIDS, human numbers are expected to stabilise in the middle of the next millennium and then begin to fall, so our current conservation efforts are a holding action on behalf of our children and their children.

Morphological measurements were made from 233 wild Wedge-tailed Eagles Aquila audax on the Nullarbor Plain, 116 museum species from southern Australia and 30 dead birds from New South Wales. In the birds from the Nullarbor Plain, reversed sexual dimorphism (female larger than the male) was found in all characters examined. Among the museum specimens (a) I found no evidence of geographical variation across southern mainland Australia and (b) a number of specimens were probably incorrectly sexed. Overall, the length of tail appeared to increase with age in females but not in males...

Wedge-tailed Eagles have the longest tails relative to wing length of any of their genus. Noakes (1993) discussed two possible explanations for this - (a) long tails favour extra manoeuvrability or (b) long tails are a secondary sexual character. tails are used for steering and manoeuvring, so raptors with ‘longer, more graduated’ tails tend to be the dense forest species (Brown 1976). However, Wedge-tailed Eagles are found in most habitats in Australia, from forest to near-treeless grasslands and succulent steppes and much of Australia is relatively treeless. An explanation for this apparent inconsistency could be that they evolved as forest species but now fill niches previously occupied by extinct open country species. During the Pleistocene, Australia had a higher diversity of large raptors than at present, according to Rich and van Tets (1984). On the other hand, if males chose what females to mate with, then choosing a large-looking female (i.e. one with a long tail) may be a clue to the choice of a good survivor.

A 14 month study of a pair of Masked Owls Tyto novaehollandiae in a fragmented mosaic of urban bushland (dry open forest) near Newcastle found high site-fidelity during two autumn, winter breeding seasons. The birds spent long periods of most nights during May-September 1994 and March-July 1995 in a particular patch of bushland where, by day, they roosted inside the large hollows of old eucalypts. The spectacular aerial courtship display of the male was observed on seven nights during March-July. Breeding did not occur in 1994. Courtship displays occurred earlier in the 1995 season than in 1994 but nesting had not begun by the end of the study in July 1995. The adult female was radio tagged in September 1994 and tracked for a total of 14 weeks until December 1994. The home range of this bird was estimated as 1017-1178 ha. The presumed breeding area was located on the edge of the non-breeding home range. The radio-tagged owl spent three quarters of its time at night in bushland or within 100m either side of the bushland edge and the remainder more than 100m from any bushland. More than half (59%) of its time was spent within 100m of ecotones between bushland and open country (e.g. roads and fields) or between bushland and residential areas. The radio-tagged owl spent 82% of its time in, or next to, environments that had been extensively modified by man. During the non-breeding season, it roosted among the dense foliage of several introduced trees occurring on residential properties. The diet of these owls consisted mainly of introduced species of small terrestrial mammals, particularly Rattus rattus, but several birds were also taken.

Travelling south on the midlands highway (Tas) one afternoon, nearing Ross I was treated to a comic book style observation. Four or five Forest Ravens Corvus tasmanicus were harassing and attempting to drive off a Brown Falcon Falco berigora which was competitively hunting a freshly ploughed paddock. The falcon was showing determination in sticking around when two ravens flying at some speed “sandwiched” the falcon mid-air! All three birds and several feathers fell some distance through the air before recovering and flapping off somewhat unsteadily, the falcon to a nearby tree looking a bit offended, the ravens returning to land with their cronies in the paddock. I cannot imagine that the Kamikaze strategy used by the ravens was deliberate but it certainly was extremely funny to witness.

Mr Garlick hit a young Brown Falcon with his car, a Ford Falcon, on Friday afternoon, only to find it still alive and well in the car’s motor on Sunday.

He was travelling through Taminick Gap observing the falcon when it suddenly dropped in front of the car and he heard a thump as it rolled underneath.

Mr Garlick said he was very disappointed to have hit the bird and was excited when it turned up alive on Sunday.

“I was washing the car and hosing out under the front part of the motor when I looked underneath and saw the two talons,” he said.

“I prepared myself for the worst as I lifted up the bonnet, and there was the falcon stuck in the front of the radiator hissing at me.”

Mr Garlick said he was too scared to move the bird himself in case it had a broken wing.

He called veterinarian Graham Blanch instead, and together they retrieved the bird from the front of the car’s motor.

Mr Garlick said Mr Blanch gave the falcon some food supplement and a drink of water because it was dehydrated from being in the car for two days.

On Sunday afternoon, Mr Garlick and Mr Blanch took the bird back out to Taminick Gap and it was successfully released back into its natural habitat.

In early January 1997 one of us observed four owls in trees around his house on a forested rural block in Roleystone (a ‘hills suburb’ about 30kms south east of Perth). The owls appeared at dusk and flew from tree to tree until it was dark, frequently chirruping. We both observed them on January 9. That evening the owls appeared as usual at dusk and chirruped frequently until after dark. The calls would have been mistaken for crickets if they had not always come from trees into which the owls had flown. One chirruped in a circling flight in the open air above us, confirming that the calls were made by the owls. Initially, using 10x40 Zeiss binoculars, there was sufficient light to clearly identify them as Southern Boobooks Ninox novaeseelandiae.

At Roleystone, the call was only heard in the evening for about ten days while (presumably) two free flying young accompanied their parents. No typical “boo-book” calls were heard at this time. Hollands (1991) has noted “Females and young in nest use a variety of low trills” and Fleay (1968) records apparently fledged young chirruping in Victoria. We are not aware of other records. We appreciate the efforts of Allan Burridge and John Blythe to find records of Southern Boobooks Chirruping.

Fleay, D. (1968) Nightwatchmen of Bush and Plain: Australian Owls and Owl-Like Birds. Jacaranda Press. Brisbane.

Hollands, D. (1991). Birds of the Night: Owls, Frogmouths and Nightjars of Australia. Reed Books Pty Ltd. Balgowlah, NSW.

T’was noon of Sunday June 8. Jason ‘Gadget’ Weirsma and I were contemplating our collective navels and watching the trees grow.

Ring ring ring. The bloody phone. A call from Barry Chipman, a member of the forestry industry’s curiously named Forest Protection Society, about an apparently injured Wedge-tailed Eagle, down but not out, being mobbed by other eagles and eye-balled by locals.

Sliding down the trusty fire-pole to the BOPmobile we rattled down my precipitous drive and smoked off on the quest.

Arriving, Cheryl Chipman pointed out the paddock friend Aquila was last seen in. Apparently it could fly, albeit with a limp.

Like a couple of Jim Corbett’s Himalayan beaters the J and I sallied forth eagle’n. Said avid was spotted eye-balling us from 150m. Hmmm- what to do?

We couldn’t pretend we weren’t there so we sauntered along to an upwind position, (that way, she apparently did not have the wind to take off into).Whistling and kicking cans, trying to appear uninterested in the big bird. Taking one step forward and two sideways, gradually working towards the bird she flushed - a low laboured 50m flight across wind, favouring the right wing landing 10m our side of a fence.

We sauntered on and exchanging knowing looks, developed over years of mutual disrespect, slowly wandered apart, staying upwind.

The eagle looked at us, then measured to the fence. We measured to the eagle; 41.2m. Then we were off. O’l audax didn’t live up to her name. She panicked and commenced the take off run. We gained, she suddenly turned to go back twixt us. We were too close, she turned again feinting at the J then she made a prodigious lurch over the fence. J making a similar leap into the fence, cartwheeling like a tumbleweed. I was up and over, emu like legs pumping, on her hammer. She turned inside of me and J, trailing dust and wire did a handbrake turn inside her, leapt and clutch - had her! She was completely dumbfounded and no doubt hoped no other eagle had seen her so caught.

She also had a mouthful of blood. Alarmed, we looked closer and found fresh blood on her claws. It seems she was eating when we spotted her and exertion caused a bit if spillage.

Xrays showed no breaks. It seems she probably hit a fence or other wire. An old bird, I will radio tag her on release; maybe we can find her nest by tracking her. Meanwhile she glares balefully at me from my converted carport, no doubt still trying to figure out where she went wrong. All hail to co operation.

In May 1995, 86 Lappet faced Vultures Torgus tracheliotus, along with eight White-backed Vultures Gyps africanus, were poisoned on a farm in the Usakos district of Namibia. This represents about 10% of the total Namibian population of this species and more than half of the Namib Desert population. It is the largest recorded number of these to have been poisoned in southern Africa. The poison was placed in two mammalian carcasses and was intentionally aimed at killing these vultures, which allegedly had been killing new born ‘dorper’ lambs.

A few months prior to the poisonings, the farmer responsible had contacted the Walvis Bay office of the Namibian Ministry of the Environment and Tourism to complain of the alleged vulture predation on lambs. Ministry staff advised him to feed the vultures with a carcass and to provide shepherds to watch the sheep. He was warned not to use poison in the carcass. Several conservation officials visited the farm to investigate further. A case of the illegal use of poisons and a case of the illegal killing of protected animals is being investigated.

A chick born to England's’ only nesting pair of Golden Eagles Aquila chrysaetos has flown the nest . The pair, which live on a rock face at Haweswater Reservoir in Cumbria, successfully reared the youngster in 1996 after three years of failure. The chick started taking its first flights in the summer and a golden eagle has since been seen soaring above the Yorkshire Dales near Pateley Bridge.

BOOBOOK

Australasian Raptor Association