Boobook: Volume 19

From the Editor
	INCOMING EDITOR’S INTRODUCTION AND COMMENTS
RAPTOR FILE
	Initial assessment of the impact of rabbit calicivirus disease on Australian birds of prey – 1996-98
	New Zealand miscellany
	Conservation of raptors in the republic of Vanuatu
	Biodiversity and island raptors
	Comparison of vocalisations of Australian falcons and Elanine kites
	Nutrient content of five species of domestic animals commonly fed to Captive Raptors
	Diet of montagu’s harrier circus pygargus in central spain: analysis of temporal and geographical variation
	Lead poisoning in white-tailed eagles haliaeetus albicilla and Steller’s sea
	Eagle haliaeetus pelagicus in eastern Hokkaido
	Red goshawk decline (abridged)
	Habitat preference of crested serpent eagles in southern Japan
	Fitness levels as a determining factor in the survival of rehabilitated Raptors [brown goshawks] released back into the wild: preliminary results
	Diet shifts of Black-chested eagles from native prey to European rabbits in chile
	Food habits of the Madagascar buzzard in the rain forest of the Masoala Peninsula
	Population density, territory size and habitat use of the Gurney’s eagle Aquila gurneyi in the north Moluccas, Indonesia
	Wedge-tailed eagle predation on endangered mammals and rabbits at Shark bay, Western Australia
	Breeding biology of the Javan hawk-eagle
	Feeding ecology of the Javan hawk-eagle spizaetus bartelsi during nestling period
	Breeding biology of the Javan hawk-eagle spizaetus bartelsi
	Nest site characteristics of New Zealand falcons in a forested habitat
	Results from a banding study of peregrine falcon chicks in Victoria, 1972-1997
	Variation in male provisioning in relation to brood size of Peregrine Falcons falco peregrinus
	Effects of avian mobbing on roost use and diet of powerful owls Ninox strenua
	Conserving large owls in forests in Victoria, Australia
	Molecular data confirms the species status of the Christmas island Hawk-owl ninox natalis
	Density and total population estimates for the threatened Christmas Island hawk-owl ninox natalis
	Vocalizations of the Christmas island hawk-owl ninox natalis: individual variation in advertisement calls
	Diet and roost site characteristics of the Christmas island Hawk-owl Ninox natalis
	Biology and conservation of the Christmas island Hawk-owl ninox natalis
	A survey of historical laughing owl specimens in museum collections
FIELD NOTES
	From bopwatch II (yes - it’s back!!!)
	From the second atlas (of Australian birds)
	Black shouldered kite predates house sparrow at Armidale, NSW
	A dam Osprey through and through [Qld]
	Square-tailed kite takes tree frog [WA]
	Unusual records of Brahminy kites
	White-bellied sea-eagle at Alfred cove [WA]
	Sea-eagle on lake Moondarah [Qld]
	Coot scoopin’ sea-eagle [Qld]
	A marriage (of sea-eagles) made in heaven [Qld]
	Sea-eagle takes a magpie, terrorises an island, in NSW [abridged]
	Swamp harrier at lake Joondalup [WA]
	Observations of red goshawk taking prey and being robbed
	Accipiter novaehollandiae consumes cow after-birth
	One less starling [in Qld, courtesy of a collared Sparrow hawk]
	Fiji Goshawk accipiter rufitorques hunts by grass-probing
	High density eyries around Bendigo [Vic]
	"Circuits and bumps" by a young eagle in WA
	How many eagles around a carcass?
	Wedge-tailed eagles and kangaroos [WA]
	Perhaps eagles prefer dead lambs? [Tas]
	Whither the wedgie - or will the wedgie wither? [NSW]
	More on wedgie prey [Vic]
	Wedge-tailed eagles and road-sense
	Nankeen kestrel takes hooded plover chick [Vic]
	Brown falcon captures a kestrel in mid-air [WA]
	Hobbies in Torres Strait
	Hungry Hobby [WA]
	Magpie vs Hobby [ACT]
	Optus Hobby [Vic]
	Grey falcon at Cullen’s lake [Vic]
	Peregrine attempts to catch bats at Pelabuhanratu, Jawa Barat
	A suburban kill by a Peregrine falcon [ACT]
	Powerful owl predates little raven
	[Boobook] owl observations [Qld]
	(Southern) Boobook massacre
	Another Southern Boobook masaacre
	Raptor Research - the journal!!!
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
	Luminous owls, ghost stories & the min-min light (extract)
	Population declines of predatory birds coincident with the introduction of klerat rodenticide in north Queensland (summary)
	NSW raptor rehabilitation in 1997
	Status and conservation of raptors in Australia’s tropics
	The impact of rabbit calicivirus disease on raptors populations in the Strzelecki desert, south Australia
	Rabbits and Harriers in New Zealand
	Ospreys able to nest in Safety [abridged - NSW]
	Maiden flight [of an Osprey] attracted plenty of attention [NSW]
	World first captive breeding of the smart raptor [NSW]: the intriguing and talented black-breasted buzzard
	Fly like an eagle [Vic - abridged]
	Bird project spreads its wings [Grey goshawk - Tas - abridged]
	Birds fall prey as Victims die [Wedge-tailed eagle]
	Starvation diet [Wedge-tailed eagles]
	Raptors are paying the price as Australia wins the war against rabbits.
	Plan for boost to rabbit virus [abridged]
	How nature copes with the bunny bug [abridged - Vic]
	Hacking juvenile Australian kestrels - reeves plains (Mallala) SA
	Imping an injured peregrine [Vic]
	Hacking juvenile Southern Boobooks (ninox novaeseelandiae) at reeves plains SA
	Orphan [Southern Boobook] owl’s a handful [Vic]
	A nest of the Madagascar serpent-eagle discovered
	Breeding, growth, development, and management of the Madagascar Fish-eagle
	Status of the Madagascar fish eagle haliaeetus vociferoides in 1995
	Habitat requirements of the Madagascar fish eagle, haliaeetus vociferoides
	Raptor drownings worry conservationists [vultures]
	Breeding ecology and behaviour of the Hawaiian hawk
	Mystery ailment fells bald eagles at three Arkansas lakes (abridged)
	Philippine birds of prey: interrelations among habitat, morphology and behaviour
	Aggressive mimicry in se-Asian birds of prey: barred honey-buzzards pernis
	Celebensis vs hawk-eagles spizaetus spp
	Java’s hawks: past, present and future (summary)
	Species survival versus perpetuation of a myth: the case of the Philippine eagle
	The Philippine eagle
	Distribution and field identification of Philippine birds of prey:
	A possible new subspecies of the Philippine hawk-eagle (spizaetus Philippinensis) and its future prospects
	Breeding of the white-rumped pygmy falcon
	Falcon smuggling from China
	No prey, no predator
	Raptors are not to blame - and that's official (UK)
	Pigeon fanciers versus raptors (UK)
	Role of refuse as food for migrant, floater and breeding black kites
	Milvus migrans [ in Spain - abstract]
	Migratory movements of western European Montagu’s harriers
	Circus pygargus: a review
Intelligentsia
	World birds of prey conference for OZ in 2003?

Well, here is my first humble editorial effort - the second Boobook. I didn’t write the first one - that was compiled by Nick Mooney. So, hats off to the lad for his creative, transitional efforts!! Hats off to him, too, for his legendary efforts, between 1992 and 1997, as Editor of the former ARA News!! The burden of this task (alongside raptor studies across Tasmania, forking over dead whales, chasing shipborne foxes, looking for Thylacines, visiting our African colleagues, and prosecuting the ratbag element in Tassie society, etc) became too much for him. The more so since he re-married - and owes the wife a little of his time! Thanks for your guidance and comments since retirement, Nick (NJM), no less than for the first-class effort - above and beyond the call of any standard of duty - that you put in during your tenure as Editor!! Stephen Debus (SD) has helped me, too - and him I thank, no less. Any mistakes that have survived our countless perusals, spell checks and grammar checks, are mine alone.

Volume 19 (1) attempts to redress the gap in recorded knowledge betwixt 18 (1), way back in late 1997, and the end of 1998. There will be no drawings or maps - just a backlog of information! Hopefully, 19 (2) will bring the stream of data almost up to date.

The sixth and fifth sections of 19 (1) contain an index to Volumes 18 & 19, together with a long list of journal articles, publications and books (plus reviews thereof): Index & Intelligentsia. No 18 (2) was produced, because of the long delay in publication. There was much News to impart - the fourth section. The third section is Field Notes. That is a mixed bag: BOPWatch and ATLAS data, material gleaned from journals, Birding-aus e-mail and other reported observations. There are precious few of the last two categories. I would have liked to have had other field notes in reserve, for 19 (2) and beyond but, unless these can be extracted from journals or you out there send them in, there wont be any more Field Notes!!! Check the large number of citations, in HANZAB II & IV, to see how important these records have already proved! Other raptor studies will use this mass of raw data!! The second section is Raptorfile. I would have liked this, also, to have contained an abundance of regional studies - with a surplus in reserve.

Alas, this was not to be! Were it not for a flurry of fresh data, arising from two concurrent world conferences, in South Africa and reprinted hereunder as abstracts, there would have been little local content in that section. I separate Raptorfile from News on the basis that the former is scientific, the latter is folksy. A Field Note will (with rare exceptions) stem from our region of concern; and it will describe, accurately, a first hand field observation. Let me establish the baseline by which I will judge the merits of a potential field note. It will tell a reader, who was not there, what species were involved, when and where (in state and locality) the event unfolded chronologically and seasonally, what the weather and landform were like, and what was done by the bird(s) involved. It will be lamentably obvious that this was not always the case, in the Field Notes and News in this volume. I had to supply much key data, by a process of elimination - itself prone to flaws. The next thing to be noticed is that I follow Howard & Moore’s A Complete Checklist Of The Birds Of The World, Revised Edition, in the order of species. And, furthermore, I have separated News into several regional sections.

Several strands run through the several sections: Madagascar, the Philippines, New Zealand, rabbit calicivirus, the Javan Hawk-Eagle, etc. These are continued in subsequent volumes. That is called raising our profile, trying to become a significant regional publication. However, I can only do that if I receive important data, regional and extra-regional, from the membership. Otherwise, Boobook remains just a parochial newsletter!

Finally, the Editorial should open Boobook in authoritative style. There might be few problems in this. I am not scientist! By way of introduction, I am 43, unemployed, and being a trained Ancient Historian (Honours at the University of New England), probably unemployable. Before that I was a Commonwealth Public Servant, at the old Williamstown Naval Dockyard in suburban Melbourne. I come, originally, from the Latrobe Valley - a coal-mining region in the rural east of Victoria. I have written field notes for the ARA News, undertaken museum and data base research for Stephen Debus, and been involved in BOPWatch II from the start. I know bits and pieces - but how can I write the Editorial? I am not going to try, this time, partly because I am diffident about my scientific skills and, partly, because this volume needs to go out at some point. You can suggest themes, that I will take under advisement for the future. And, in any event, I have been "talking" for too long! So read on, enjoy, complain, comment! Lyle F Smith EDITOR

PS: Responding to Steve Tredinnick’s, in the most recent Circus, question about changing our name to Birds Australia - Raptors, I do not think that it is appropriate! At this stage, we claim concern for the area listed on the inside back cover - Australasia! (Not every member is also a member of Birds Australia!) Until the question of our field of operation is resolved, I personally prefer our existing name and acronym. However, I understand that we are entering upon new times. As an interim measure, could we not be the Australasian Raptor Association - Birds Australia (ARA-BA)? Meanwhile, it is far more important for us to define our area of interest - the present species’ list is too bloody big!!! Have a really close gander at that inside back cover!!!

Between 1986 and 1990, Birds Australia co-ordinated the first nation-wide survey of Australia’s birds of prey - collecting ‘baseline’ distribution and relative abundance data for all 24 diurnal species. Roadside counts were conducted throughout Australia by knowledgeable volunteers from the birdwatching community while driving along rural roads at normal speeds. A total of 271 volunteer observers conducted 25,486 counts covering 3,879,165 km.

During 1995/96 the Rabbit Calicivirus, which can kill up to 95% of the introduced European Rabbits infected, was introduced to Australia as a pest-control mechanism. However, the rabbit is now a significant component in the diets of 11 of the 24 species of Falconiformes found in Australia and any wide-scale decrease in rabbit numbers has implications for a number of Australia’s larger birds of prey. In order to allow a quantitative assessment of the impact of the Rabbit Calicivirus (RCD) on Australia’s raptors to be made, a second national survey of Australia’s raptors was undertaken following the release of the disease. To date, 725 observers have submitted 29,938 completed datasheets. Of these, the results of 15,136 counts covering 1,971,787 km have been computerised and are used in this analysis.

The effect of a wide-scale reduction in rabbit numbers following the introduction of RCD has apparently been detrimental to some of Australia’s larger Falconiformes, although effects vary between species and geographical areas. The relative abundance of all raptor species combined declined in rabbit-infested areas, after the introduction of RCD during 1996, and declined further during 1997. A notable exception was southwestern Australia: but rabbits are not as over-abundant there as elsewhere - and so raptors are not as dependent upon them for prey there as in some other areas.

Brown Falcon populations appear to have been most affected by the introduction of RCD, with declines of up to 50% in their relative abundance recorded over large areas of temperate Australia. Little Eagle populations declined in affected areas during summer and/or spring following the introduction of RCD and concomitant reduction in rabbit numbers. The birds breed at this time of year which means that they are under the greatest pressure to find prey, yet it is at this time that RCD is most effective at killing rabbits. Surprisingly, there were apparent increases in the recorded relative abundance of the Wedge-tailed Eagle.

Analysis of raptor abundance and seasonal rainfall data indicate that the lower than usual rainfall over much of temperate Australia during, 1997, cannot explain the declines in some raptor populations. Furthermore, with one exception, the small Nankeen Kestrel (which does not prey upon rabbits) did not undergo similar population declines. There is no evidence yet of the three major rabbit-eating species recovering in 1997 from the population declines suffered during 1996 following the reduction in rabbit numbers. W.K. STEELE (BOPWatch II Co-ordinator)

Surveys to determine the status of Norfolk Island’s owl were sponsored by the Australian National Parks and Wildlife Service in 1985, 1986 and 1987. Penny Olsen, a raptor specialist from CSIRO, led the 1986 and 1987 surveys and found only a single surviving bird, a female. With the assistance of DoC (NZ), two wild-caught male Moreporks, the closest related owl, were taken to Norfolk Island, in September 1987, and released in the National Park. To offset the lack of natural nesting holes caused by the logging of mature trees, some twenty owl nesting boxes were erected. One of the Moreporks paired with the female Boobook, and, after an unsuccessful breeding attempt in 1988, a brood of two hybrids, both females, was raised in 1989. A further two hybrids, a male and a female, were reared in 1990, but all their subsequent breeding attempts failed. The second Morepork disappeared at the end of 1988. In 1993, the male hybrid paired with a female from the 1989 brood and reared three young. This pair has reared two young each year since, raising a total of nine offspring to date. No other pair bred until 1990, when a brother and sister from the 1993 brood reared a single chick.

Census checks failed to find the original Boobook after 1995, and as she was then at least 10 years old - and probably considerably older - it seems likely that she has died. Consideration was given to the recapture of the Morepork, her mate, but, in view of the lack of available males, that was not done and, in 1996, he mated with a female from the 1994 brood, one of his granddaughters, and reared two young. As the two young that fledged in 1995 have not been found subsequently, the known population, at the end of 1996, comprised the [surviving imported] Morepork plus nine adult and five juvenile hybrids.

Loud calls, hoarse and urgent, late on the evening of 1 March 1997 [at Te Anau, South Island] made such a commotion that not only ornithologists raced outside to find out the cause. We watched fascinated as a White-faced Heron dived between caravans, tents and trees, closely followed by a New Zealand Falcon, also twisting and turning in headlong flight. We pursued the pair, seeing the falcon eventually bring the heron down to the ground some distance away. By the time we reached them, a well-meaning camper had rescued the heron, which turned out to be a young bird still with a few patches of down on the neck, that also bore puncture marks, probably from the falcon’s talons. Later another camper told us he had seen the falcon knock the heron from its perch in a pine tree. The falcon, meanwhile, had flown into a nearby tree where it sat for half an hour on one leg, the other drawn up into its breast feathers. It was very dark, possibly a young bird.

Heinkamp et al observed a Nankeen Kestrel at the bay-flat south of the airstrip on Farewell Spit, on 26 April {year unspecified]. It perched at the top of a piece of driftwood elevated above the drowned mudflats. The crown was chestnut-brown with a clearly visible dark eyestripe. The saddle and upperparts were alternate brown and fine black stripes going from the neck downwards to the upper shoulders. The terminal black band below the tail was also clearly visible. The kestrel had a bluish bill and yellow legs. It caught a prey item that looked like a crab or a big insect. We slowly approached to within 15-20 metres. Nankeen Kestrels are scarce non-breeding visitors to New Zealand, recorded from most regions. There are a few records from the Nelson-Marlborough area [South Island].

In September 1997, whilst inside the Hutton’s Shearwater research hut situated at 1,300 metres a.s.l. [Kaikoura Ranges, South Island] the hunting chatter of a falcon was heard, interspersed with an unusual Kea call. On rushing outside the building, a falcon was seen to be making repeated, determined attacks on a lone Kea - flying about 40 metres above the valley. At each pass made by the falcon, the Kea would attempt a barrel roll and defend with its claws. Four attacks were made, each knocking the Kea off course, but no feathers seemed to be lost. The Kea finally made the shelter of alpine scrub on the far side of the valley. This was a determined falcon attack, and I wouldn’t be at all surprised if young, inexperienced Kea are sometimes preyed upon by falcons.

During a brisk walk from Orton Bradley Farm Park to Lyttleton [South Island, near Christchurch - date unspecified] a New Zealand Falcon flew past, within ten metres. It was in pursuit of a New Zealand Pipit, which it captured. I ran to the site of the capture, very close to the summit of Mt Herbert (920 metres a.s.l.) and watched the falcon pluck the pipit. The falcon’s very dark plumage suggested it may have been a young bird. It is the first falcon I have seen in an area I have tramped extensively over the past 60 years.

Why, you might reasonably ask, have I segregated this information about New Zealand raptors - more suited (perhaps) to Field Notes - near the top of Raptorfile? Well, first of all, I did so in order to give due prominence to news (from the Shaky Isles) about the status of the Norfolk Island Boobook. Over here in Australia, and elsewhere in Australasia, we did not have recent intelligence about the hybrid subspecies. Now some is going beyond the narrow realm of New Zealand ornithology: thanks to the efforts of the Editor of an Australian journal - i.e., my humble self!

In a nutshell, the other reason why I afforded that random New Zealand data such prominence is that there is so precious little available, concerning Shaky Isles’ raptors, and only a minute amount of it is printed in international journals of the high calibre of Nototrnis. Most is hidden away in parochial publications (of the highest standards), like the OSNZ News, that are rarely seen outside the Land Of The Long White Cloud! That is not good enough for those that call themselves raptorphiles!! A problem shared is a problem halved; and a success announced is a double blessing! So, Kiwis, show us that you are part of the Australasia, that we are all so extremely concerned about, and send ARA research papers and articles, field notes and news, that contribute to a total regional conservation knowledge of the Karearea, the Kahu and the Ruru! Do not forget the odd vagrants and the intoducees - e.g., Nankeen Kestrel, Black Falcon (unconfirmed and, consequently, any claims of sightings need to be published for examination) and Little Owl! Does anyone authoritatively know if there are any Whekau left? Indonesia, New Guinea, Vanuatu (the article below, useful though it is, is not a sustained set of scientific observations from a resident native) and the remainder of the South-west Pacific islands - the thrust of these complaints are meant for you, no less. If you can take data to a world bird conference, and a world raptor gathering, in South Africa then, surely, you can provide same to researchers, closer to home, through this journal. Extra-regional readers should get the latest realities for Australasian birds - Ed!!!

The endemic Red Goshawk Erythrotriorchis radiatus is currently listed as Vulnerable by Environment Australia on behalf of the Federal Government though, as recently as 1984, it was considered Endangered by the same organisation. When BirdLife International applied the IUCN criteria to the data available for the Red Goshawk in its 1994 publication, Birds to Watch 2, the species was classified as Endangered. There has been another regional survey of Red Goshawks since the BirdLife International publication, and so it is reasonable to ask whether the species should be considered Endangered or Vulnerable.

The Red Goshawk still occurs, very sparsely, throughout its historic range in northern and eastern Australia, from the Kimberley in Western Australia to northern New South Wales. There has been some coastward contraction in distribution in the east, and local declines in abundance have been reported for several areas over many years. Declines have been linked, principally, to deforestation. The Red Goshawk inhabits coastal and subcoastal tall, open forests and woodlands, tropical savannahs traversed by wooded or forested rivers, and the edges of rainforests. However, its breeding habitat is much more specific, with nests being restricted to trees taller than 20 m within 1 km of a watercourse or wetland. Nests can be 20 km, or more, apart. Thus a substantial proportion of the range is not used for breeding. In the Birds Australia-WWF report and management plan, published in 1991, Tom Aumann and David Baker-Gabb calculated that there were only about 350 pairs of Red Goshawks left in Australia, and suggested that the species had declined about 20 per cent since European settlement.

Field surveys of northern New South Wales by Stephen Debus, in 1988, for the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service, indicated that the Red Goshawk, which was first collected north of Sydney, no longer breeds in that state. Similar surveys, by Greg Czechura, for the Commonwealth Department of Environment (now Environment Australia), in 1994-95, indicated that there are now only about 20-25 pairs in the southern half of Queensland. Clearing of coastal and subcoastal forests and woodlands, for sugar cane development, is continuing apace in northern Queensland. Further decline in the number of breeding pairs of Red Goshawks can be expected. The IUCN criteria indicate that species with fewer than 2500 mature individuals, and a continuing decline in numbers and population structure, should be classified as Endangered. The Red Goshawk fits this IUCN category.

What is being done to build on the work of the State agencies and Birds Australia-WWF, to ensure that the Red Goshawk is managed appropriately? The Commonwealth Department of Environment (Environment Australia) has recently allocated funds for surveys of north Queensland, over the next two years, so that breeding areas may be found and protected. Unfortunately, the follow-up monitoring of the 14 Red Goshawk nests, located in the Kakadu National Park and the Kimberley during 1988-90, never took place - even though it was the highest recommendation of the Birds Australia-WWF report for northern Australia. This monitoring was needed because of the disparity of breeding success recorded between the years. What should have been an inexpensive, and fairly straightforward, exercise is now complicated by the decade of inaction that has elapsed in far northern Australia. It remains vital that an adequate sample of Red Goshawk nests be monitored, through several seasons, to be sure that the species is not in decline because of inadequate breeding success. A national recovery plan remains to be written, and implemented, for Australia’s only endangered raptor.

D.J. BAKER-GABB (1998) extracted from Conservation Directions, Wingspan 8 (4): 6

DNA sequences from the mitochondrial ND2 gene were used to assess the taxonomical status of the Christmas Island Hawk-Owl Ninox natalis. Sequence variation was examined across 17 specimens representing 9 species and subspecies within the genus Ninox. The comparisons revealed a correlation between taxonomic level and genetic divergence with a clear separation between the levels of sequence divergence observed in comparisons involving individuals, subspecies and species. These observances provide strong endorsement for the use of DNA sequence data to assess the taxonomic status and phylogenetic relationships of N. natalis. Levels of sequence divergence recorded between the three forms of the N. squampila complex examined (squampila, hypogramma and natalis) ranged from 4.0% to 4.8%. These were comparable to the levels of divergence observed between obviously distinct species such as N. rufa and N. strenua (5.4%) and were consistently greater than observed among subspecies within the monphyletic N. novaeseelandiae complex (1.5 % to 2.3% between novaeseelandiae, leucopsis and undulata). The genetic distinctiveness of all three forms of squampila was also apparent from phylogenetic analysis of the data. Distance and parsimony methods both failed to identify any of the three forms of squampila as forming a monophyletic assemblage. Based on the combined evidence (sequence divergence and the phylogenetic position) it is concluded that squampila, hypogramma and natalis each represents separate species in the genus Ninox. These findings have implications for conservation efforts in the region.

Radio-tracking and territory mapping in plateau primary forests mainly during the dry season revealed that Christmas Island Hawk-Owls Ninox natalis occupied essentially exclusive territories with an average area of c. 18 ha. Estimates of home range size from radio-tracking data collected over a period of 10 to 67 d were smaller (males 13 ha, 10.65 ha, 10.1 ha, 9.5 ha and 5.5 ha; females 6 ha and 7 ha) but in general supported the conclusions from territorial mapping data. Christmas Island Hawk-Owls were widespread on the island in both primary and disturbed habitats. Call-playback censusing of 22 sites repeated five times detected no significant difference in relative abundance of owls, between primary forests on the high plateau and the surrounding terraces and scree slopes; significantly fewer owls were detected in regrowth forest. These results provided an estimate of 562 ± 105 occupied owl territories on the island. From this we estimate that there may be fewer than 1000 mature Christmas Island Hawk-Owls remaining and recommend that this taxon remain listed as Vulnerable. F.A.R. HILL & A. LILL (1998) Emu 98 (3): 209-29

Six different calls of the Christmas Island Hawk-Owl Ninox natalis were recorded during a two-year study of its biology. These vocalizations showed many structural and functional similarities with those described for the Southern Boobook N. novaeseelandiae. Of 195 advertisement calls by 11 owls, 91.3% were correctly attributed to an individual using a multiple discriminant analysis model comprising five measurements of call frequency and duration. We provide some evidence for the calls of individuals being constant over time. Individual variations in advertising calls may have some use in estimating owl densities, especially in areas where the terrain makes traditional techniques such as radio-tracking impractical.

In a two year study, Christmas Island Hawk-Owls Ninox natalis chose to roost in the bottom third of the canopy of trees with particularly deep crowns, in areas with fewer low understorey and more mid-level understorey trees, suggesting a preference for sheltered, concealed roost sites with easy escape routes below them. Analysis of regurgitated pellets, stomach samples and faeces showed the owls to be primarily insectivorous, eating a wide variety of medium to large insects, especially Orthoptera, Lepidoptera and Coleoptera. They supplemented this diet with vertebrates, of which introduced Black Rats Rattus rattus were the most important, in this study. Other studies have found native and introduced geckos as well as the Christmas Island White-Eye Zosterops natalis in their diet. Owls snatched their prey from the understorey, hawked insects around streetlights, ‘long-stay perch hunted’ along roadsides and presumably also fed in and above the canopy. F.A.R. HILL & A. LILL (1998) Emu 98 (3): 227-33

Island birds are particularly vulnerable to extinction. The Christmas Island Hawk-Owl Ninox natalis is a small forest-dwelling owl restricted to Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean. The island is small (13,500 ha) of which 75% remains naturally forested. Approximately 1000 adult owls occupy territories in primary forest across the island, with a small number of adults living in secondary growth vegetation. The owl is considered Vulnerable due to its small population size and particularly because it occurs as a single population on a remote oceanic island. Settlement of the island and anthropogenic factors appear to be the main threats to the owl population. Forest clearance has reduced the total population size by c. 25%. Numerous exotic plants and animals have arrived and the risk of introduction of new diseases has markedly increased since settlement. Global climate change may alter the frequency of cyclones on the island, and increase environmental variability. Although most of the original forest is now protected as national park, significant areas remain without legislative protection. Economic independence is one of the most important goals for the island community and is inextricably linked to the future of conservation efforts on the island. Without a secure economic future, conservation of the island’s biota will continue to be uncertain.

Osprey ~ June Harris (of Richmond Hill NSW) between 12/3/97 and 15/3/97 at Dalby QLD, in that eponymous zone, saw an Osprey fishing in the freshwater Myall Lake, in the CBD of Dalby. That town is atop the Great Dividing Range - well inland of Brisbane. Joan Price (of Charnwood ACT) was driving in the flood-devastated Tamworth zone on 28/7/98. She saw a single Osprey, on a flooded river section, just outside Walcha. This small lumber town is on the western slopes of the Great Dividing Range, closest to Armidale and Uralla. Stephen Debus adds the note that this Osprey has a nest just west of Walcha.

Letter- winged Kite ~ Philip Maher (of Deniliquin NSW) saw four, on the right hand side of the Strzelecki Track in SA (Coober Pedy zone), on 16/9/96. In the Katherine zone, on 30/6/97, Ken Harris (Wheeler’s Hill - VIC) saw one 2 k up a side track east off the Stuart Highway, 4 k north of Edith River (46 k north of Katherine NT. Joan Price saw one near Quirindi NSW (Tamworth zone) on 23/7/98, approximately 20 kilometres outside that town: whilst she was driving, slowly, down along a debris-strewn floodway. As she waited her turn to cross said overflowing floodway, Joan saw the correct underwing pattern - as the bird flew up from its perch.

Square-tailed Kite ~ Tom Garnett, of Castlemaine (VIC), saw one over that township, in the Ouyen zone, on 30/3/97.

Black Kite ~ Peter Taylor (of Angaston SA) saw this undated episode on Conarie Pastoral Lease homestead (Innamincka zone - state unspecified). Water beetles Hydrophilus latipalpus were attracted, by night, to the homestead lights. Most nights were dewy and, in the morning, the lawn and garden areas were quite wet. There was also a waterhole, 60 metres from the house. By 9.30 hrs a north-west breeze would arise; and the beetles would become airborne. As these insects reached a height of about 15 metres, the Black Kites would catch them with one foot. Then they would consume the beetles on the wing. On one occasion a Black Falcon joined in - hovering, like a kestrel, with a fanned tail.

Whistling Kite ~ Helen Wilson, of Darwin NT, saw at least 50 in a tree, at Oenpelli billabong NT (Darwin zone), on 18/4/97.

White-bellied Sea-Eagle ~ Darryl Binns (of St Helens TAS) saw one sharing a road kill with two Wedge-tails, at the right bank of the Leichardt River Far North QLD in the Burketown zone, on 7/8/97.

Spotted Harrier & Others ~ George Swann, of Broome (WA), saw a gathering of raptors at the Lennard River WA, on 3/11/96, between 14.00 and 15.00 hrs. As well as 5 Spotted Harriers - four adults and a sub-adult - there was a Brown Falcon, a Whistling Kite, 4 Brown Goshawks and 3 Collared Sparrowhawks. One of the last was a male. All the sparrowhawks, all the goshawks, the Brown Falcon and the 4 adult harriers came there to drink.

Wedge-tailed Eagle ~ R.&P. Challis of Eltham NSW saw 10, at once, over Bluff Rock, 20k north of Tenterfield (Tamworth zone) on 28/4/97. From June Harris, of Lismore NSW, this sighting note from 23/4/97. She writes of seeing 15 eagles in a 50 kilometre stretch along the New England Highway, in the Tamworth zone. She notes: "what a plethora...it must have been a WTE’s convention!! All sighted between Tenterfield and Deepwater: hilly. forested country, some grazing land. One pair touching talons, the rest soaring, except for a single bird perched near the road." This event occurred between 9.15 and 9.45 hours.

Brown Falcon ~ Peter Duckworth of (Bridport TAS) saw one of these, and a Swamp Harrier, sharing a road kill in central Tasmania, on 17/2/97. This was the Launceston zone.

Australian Hobby ~ In the Gundagai zone, Ray Purchase, of Bald Hill in Victoria’s Warby Ranges, was reported by a friend as having been aggressively dive bombed by a hobby. It seems Ray disturbed it from a rabbit, and it was not amused!

Grey Falcon ~ Ted & Vicki Schurmann (of Inglewood VIC) saw a pair on 8/9/98 at Alice Springs NT. The occasion unfolded at the Telegraph Station - where they were above the mainly dry Todd riverbed, looking for Spinnifex Pigeons. A male (?) Grey Falcon was chased along the riverbed by a Mudlark. Later, it was joined by a larger (female?) specimen. The Schurmanns were able to observe these two for a total of fifteen minutes.

Black Falcon ~ At St Leonards, on the Bellarine Peninsula (in Victoria’s Hamilton zone), on 18/10/98, El Presidente Mark Holdsworth saw a female hunting in paddocks behind houses - one attempted predation on a Common Starling.

On 1 March [year unspecified], I did a survey of Cooby Dam [Toowoomba area?] from a power boat with one of the rangers. As we left Loveday Cove, for the backwater, we observed three White-bellied Sea-Eagles over the Sailing Club area - two adults and an immature. We headed to the buoy, at the northern end, where there were extensive flocks of coot, swans and ducks. As the ranger throttled back the boat, to turn, one of the adult sea-eagles flew rapidly towards us. When the boat had turned, and began to gather speed, the large flock of Eurasian Coots spread out and half-ran, half-flew in many directions ahead of it. Thereupon the sea-eagle came in over the boat, and made three unsuccessful attempts to capture a coot - by flying very low over the water, and lunging at a fleeing bird. Finally, it crossed our path, scooped a coot from the water and, with the hapless prey dangling from its talons, flew off to a tree on the shore. The ranger says that this is a regular occurrence; and that the sea-eagle almost always responds to the throttling back of the power boat. Apparently, it has learned that the coots spread out before the boat, instead of flocking defensively and so, with a minimum of fuss, it procures its breakfast.

I thought I would relate the following experience to ARA - primarily in the hope of getting some feedback on the probable age, sex and motivation of the birds involved. I live in the south-west of Western Australia: at the top of a ridge looking down a gradual valley, with about 1 km of cleared land down each side. The valley is a popular feeding place for kangaroos; with Black-shouldered Kites Elanus axillaris, Whistling Kites Haliastur sphenurus and Nankeen Kestrels Falco cenchroides being the more common birds of prey.

On a morning in April I was standing on the front balcony observing a mob of roos, about 300 m down one side of the valley, when the unmistakable silhouettes of two Wedge-tailed Eagles Aquila audax passed gracefully overhead. Using a slight headwind, the pair had soon risen to a considerable height and began circling the mob of roos. Sensing some action, I grabbed my binoculars in time to see the eagles split up: one (WT1) circled up the valley to be parallel with me again; while the other (WT2) moved down the valley, and dropped to the ground behind a grove of trees. With WT2 completely obscured, I watched WT1 begin a slow glide in a direct line towards the roos. If anything I expected WT1 to increase speed and scatter the mob, but the slow approach continued - until the bird landed right beside a young mother and joey. The mob had spotted the pair earlier, but none seemed too concerned and, even when the singled-out mother reared up to protect her joey, most of the roos continued feeding or lying in the grass.

What followed baffled me, and yet was quite humorous. The joey now safely out of harm's way, the roo and WT1 both stood their ground and had a 15-20 second "wrestle". The roo was only using its front paws and the wedgie, wings outstretched, was hopping and thrusting with its talons. Amazed, and ruing not having a video camera handy, I suddenly noticed WT2 flying up the valley - just above ground level. WT2 also landed beside a medium sized roo, rather than attacking in flight, and a similar scrap ensued - before the new-comer leaped on to a Blackboy stem, causing it to sway under the bird's weight. WT1 immediately made a running take-off onto a low, near-by branch, and a period of staring between wedgies and roos occurred. Then magpies aggressively drove the pair of eagles into the air, and off down the valley. I know of two breeding pairs of wedgies in the area (both about 10 km away) but this was the first, and last time, I've seen any in my valley. The only assumption I can make was that these were a pair of inexperienced juveniles testing out their boundaries of attack. The nonchalance of the mob of roos, throughout the affair, certainly suggested they felt no real threat. Anyway, if anyone can let me know how common this sort of behaviour is, and what the exact aim of the wedgies may have been, I'd greatly appreciate it. Thanks. M. LANGRIDGE (WA) mickath@netserv.net.au

NJM. replies: My inquiries revealed that the joey was a moderate size, certainly not on its first excursion from the pouch and, likely, near the end of its pouch life. Upon the eagle’s arrival, the joey made for the front of the kangaroo, then hopped behind it, the mother blocking the path of the bird. She then moved 10 m, to be very close to another kangaroo - which watched for a few seconds, then continued feeding.

I suggest predators will often check out potential prey, with a ‘try my luck’ tactic, where they use some easy, efficient behaviour to see if prey will panic, giving them a real chance. The above stand-off seems exactly this. In this circumstance, old eagles know they cannot attack by surprise (that’s one reason why the kangaroos were there in the first place) and it costs little to just see if there is a nervous animal that might panic. It sounds like the joey was being weaned, and its mother had another in the pouch (after birth they will not let the one at foot back in). Maybe, if the eagles can panic the kangaroos, one might dump its new joey from the pouch; but I think it more likely they were trying to create a panic, and catch the young at foot. Even if they can injure it, the chances increase of a later capture - as it slows or lags behind. Remember, these resident eagles and kangaroos probably know each other - and have had previous encounters. The eagles were almost certainly using a tactic that has worked before. They can afford to do this many times before a feed, unlike a full blown, energetic attack that is costly. If a chance develops, this casual approach can change suddenly, and a very aggressive attack occurs even using co-operation.

Sea eagles try this all the time with ducks and coots - just cruising through the flocks, looking for a slow or dopey individual. Another example is wedgies slowly cruising through the canopy, looking for possums that are not secure in hollows. Extremes are harriers using very time consuming, but energy efficient (because of their low wing loading), quartering; and peregrines, which do the opposite. Sometimes wedgies with their low-moderate wing loading (especially for their size) remind me of Indian Black Eagles Ictinaetus malayensis foraging for birds' nests.

From 12 to 21/8/98, Peter Crabtree, Neil Macumber and myself visited Saibai, Dauan and Boigu islands, in Torres Strait. These are adjacent to Papua New Guinea. We saw hobbies on all three islands, and had some difficulty in identifying them. We listed the Australian Hobby on all three: but also suspected an Oriental Hobby on Saibai; and were fairly confident of one on Dauan - until we saw some better. Dauan is a small, pyramid-shaped, granite-bouldered island. Whilst we were there, a plague of large grasshoppers was in full spate: 2 or 3 species, 7 to 10 cm in length - and at least four hobbies were feasting upon them. One bird was sawing along a ridge and from its shape, shortish tail, broad wings and cold grey upperparts, we discounted Australian Hobby. Crabtree sees them almost daily, and was adamant that it wasn’t one. We suspected a Peregrine: but the underparts were dark, and, when it started to catch insects, we knew that it wasn’t. [Peregrines actually do catch insects in the air - SD.] A subsequent view revealed the underparts were deep rufous, and confirmed a blunted moustachial streak and a seemingly narrow, pale collar - but this was only a flight view. [Speculations welcome -Ed.]

However, the next two birds were definitely Australian Hobbies: paler below, with buff lores. Good views of a third bird left us somewhat confused. This was evidently an Australian Hobby by the boldly shaped (but not pointed) moustachial lobe, ear covert lobe, and pale collar that curved over this lobe. The undertail was barred; but it was deeper, and more intensely, rufous on the underparts. At least I thought so. This is typical of some Australian birds. Moreover, the lores weren’t buff, but were marginally paler than the rest of the forehead - but this was very difficult to see. Just how typical, however, is this; and can its racial origin of the third bird be determined. M. CARTER (VIC)

SD comments that he believes the third bird to be an Australian Hobby. HANZAB declares that there are three subspecies: longipennis in the southeast and west, along the east coast and in Tasmania; murchisonianus north, and inland of the Great Dividing Range and humeli in the Lesser Sundas. SD, however, states, in a final comment upon this field note, that he does not believe in the existence of murchisonianus. Counter-comments, or supportive ones, will be welcomed - Ed.

At about 11.00 a.m on 18 February 1997, I was driving beside the Reid Oval, near the junction of Elimatta and Euree Streets [North Canberra, behind the Australian War Memorial], when I noticed a bird with a fresh ‘kill’ on the ground about 5 m from the road. It was under the trees that surround the oval. I was able to get within 10 m, without disturbing a Peregrine Falcon Falco peregrinus which, judging by its size, was a female. It was very busy plucking a Galah Cacatua roseicapilla. After watching it for about 5 minutes, I went home and brought my teenage daughter back for a rare opportunity to see a Peregrine at such close quarters. By this time, an Australian Raven Corvus coronoides was walking around the falcon, in a circle, but not approaching closer than 3 m. Occasionally, the falcon would turn its head to fix us with an imperial stare, while standing high over the dead Galah.

At 12.30 p.m I returned and found that a golfer had parked close to the kill and, as the falcon was not visible, I got out to check the carcass. The falcon [was] in the trees above me and flew off calling, then circled back and perched high in a dead Atlas Cedar Cedrus atlantica to watch me. The head and one leg of the Galah were missing, and a wing was detached. The flight muscles had been eaten, the sternum was missing and the entire body cavity was empty. I have no way of knowing if the raven had participated in the feast, but from the way the carcass had been torn open and cleaned out, and from its continued presence, the falcon had made the most of its kill. This dismemberment had occurred in less than one and a half hours and, judging by its continued observation, the falcon was still interested in its prey.

Early on the morning of 12/3/98, I left Mt Garnett for the drive to Georgetown. [This township is on the Gulf Development Road, on the inland side of the Great Dividing Range, at the top of a triangle formed by Cairns to the north, and Rockhampton to the south, in Far North QLD.] Passing through the ‘40 Mile Scrub’, I saw a dead Boobook on the road. It had been run over during the night, whilst feeding on a large, green grasshopper. I had gone but 1 k further, when I found another dead Boobook. Then, 4 k further on, I found a Tawny Frogmouth. Next, between the ‘scrub’ and Mt Surprise, I stopped, and examined, 6 more freshly killed Boobooks (plus another frogmouth). Bad enough, but - between Mt Surprise and Georgetown - I found 3 more Boobooks. All were killed during the previous night: when the moon was full, and grasshoppers were everywhere. The final count, by the time I reached Georgetown, was 13. Whether it was a roadtrain (which stops for naught), or irresponsible locals, I will never know.

According to the Society for the Preservation of Raptors Inc. Newsletter, November 1997, 6 Barn Owls were struck by cars, on a new segment of the Reid Highway, south-west Western Australia (near Perth), between May and July of that year. Concern from one of their members resulted in the Main Roads Department designing fauna warning signs for that ‘black spot’.- Ed!

I have already reported a massacre of Southern Boobooks, on the Gulf Development Road in Far North Queensland, on 12/3/98 (see above - Ed). I speculated that it may have been done by a roadtrain. Now, one year later, I may possess circumstantial proof that such a vehicle was the culprit. On 11/3/99, I was talking to a truckie who had just driven from Cairns to Normanton (on, or about, 5/3/99). He reported 30 to 40 Boobooks on the road between 40 Mile Scrub and Mt Surprise. Several were squashed, even though the chap tried to avoid crushing them. They were in the middle of the road, and would not fly away. The truckie assured me that the numbers of these owls was so great, on that Gulf Development Road, that a few killed would make no difference. This road to Normanton is mostly single lane bitumen, and large trucks cannot swerve onto the gravel shoulders. It is gradually being upgraded to two lanes of bitumen; and I suppose that less owls will then be killed? S. EMMERSON (QLD - through Birding-aus)

John Wren (of Bowen QLD) is a regular contributor to BOPWatch.. John is a locomotive driver, travelling through the Cairns zone along the Newlands/Collinsville/Abbot Point rail corridor. John also travels into the nearby Clermont zone, going from Newlands to Pring by train. He has reported large numbers of small owls, and frogmouths, resting on the train lines - rather than surrounding trees or elevated fixtures - and been giving a regular report of carnage, inflicted by trains at night. He writes, in Contact Call, the journal of Birds Australia North Queensland Group, March 1999 newsletter, "The mystery still remains as to why the birds actually settle on the railway line [or the Gulf Development Road, as in the above anecdote - Ed] when more suitable roosting points are available in trees, telephone poles and fence posts etc, that provide a better location for hunting prey." Why, indeed? Comments on this phenomenon, in general and specific terms, will be welcomed from readers. At least John reports, in the aforementioned newsletter, that the rail-sitting birds can be induced to move if the locomotive’s headlight is flicked on and off, when a sitter is sighted. Comments, please - Ed.

"...Late in the evening, we drove slowly around the bore [somewhere in western New South Wales] working a spotlight, just to see what we could see. Suddenly, as the moon disappeared behind a cloud and the shadows deepened, it appeared as if the headlights of the car were being reflected to us, from quite a distance away. Yet the lights appeared too bright. The spotlight was swung in the same direction and the twin lights increased in intensity. We wondered if there was an old outstation in the area, and the vehicle’s light was reflecting off the windows. But the spotlight did not appear in the reflection, as a third light, and we were lost for an explanation. Then the two ‘headlights’ began to rise slowly before us. We’d be lying if we said that, at this point, we weren’t a little nervous. Bush fables about Min-Min Lights, and Bunyips, and lost souls, flashed into my head but, before I could create my own panic, it was upon us.

The two lights rose, until they were 10-20 metres from the ground, and then began wavering. At least that’s what appeared to be happening, until we realised that they were headed straight for us - at speed. Someone, with a firm resolve, kept the spotlight aimed as the lights came down upon us. The impact was far less forceful than I’d anticipated. The arm holding the spotlight was thrown backwards, and the light beam illuminated two great wings - which beat furiously in mid-air, above the vehicle’s bonnet. Then they swept away into the darkness. After a stream of obscenities befitting the occasion, and pleadings for an explanation, someone exclaimed - with some joy at the realisation - "It was a bloody great owl!"..."

excerped from P. STABULI (1995) "4WD - Australia’s Best Adventure Tracks" (unreferenced) per F. SILCOCK*

NB ~ Probably a Barn Owl: see, A review of accounts of luminosity in Barn Owls, F. Silcock, in Australian Raptor Studies II, G. Czechura & S. Debus [Eds], Proc. 2nd Australasian Raptor Association Conference, Birds Australia, Hawthorn East, 1996 - Ed.

A list of raptors we rehabilitated in 1997 is attached. Perhaps the most interesting report was of an adult Wedge-tailed Eagle Aquila audax hit by a truck (nothing less for a Wedgie, of course) and picked up on the 13th of August, with a bad gash across the abdomen. It was rehabilitated, including being exercised on a creance (long line) and released on the 9th of September at my place (about 40 km away from the pick up point). Four weeks later it was found within 2 kilometres of where it was originally rescued, in worse general condition than when I first got it and died the next day. This tends to prove the point that in the majority of cases, no matter where you release an adult raptor it will make its way back to where it came from. It also makes you wonder when a bird has been in such a bad way in the first place that the internal damage has already been done and the bird cannot cope with the stresses of the wild anymore.

The chance of that particular eagle being found would have had to be one in a million.

* Yes, it can be very difficult to decide the full extent and repercussions of soft tissue injuries. Also it is tempting to work on the first serious injury you find and not complete an examination - not that Dave and Jean necessarily missed anything. As regards the chances of finding such a bird, fate constantly amuses me. A Swamp Harrier with a bandaged wing that escaped from Richmond (TAS) was found 10 days later on the roadside at Sorrell some 15 km away by the neighbour of the rehabilitator; amazing, considering there is much traffic in the area. Although the harrier was originally picked up in the opposite direction. It was pre-breeding; and perhaps the harrier was returning home to where it usually bred. I knew of a ‘pet’ (illegal) Brown Falcon that escaped from Hobart with a jess on and was found dead on the road, 3 years later, some 17 km away, by the son of the ‘owner’. Now that’s who should have bought a lottery ticket!! - NJM.

The Strzelecki Creek drainage system is one of Australia’s most important raptor breeding areas. Twelve species have been recorded breeding in the study area, three of which are scheduled vulnerable or rare. In the 1995 breeding season seven species of raptor were recorded feeding predominantly upon rabbits (55% to 100%). Rabbit Calicivirus Disease (RCD) was first confirmed in the study area in mid-November 1995, arriving through natural spread. Subsequently the rabbit population decreased 94% and has remained suppressed at < 0.5/km. The number of active nests for eight species of raptors, in the study area, was 321 in 1985, 127 in 1986, 99 in 1987. Coincident with RCD 19 nests were found in 1995 and only 5 in 1997. The high number of nests found in 1985 followed a year of relatively high rainfall of 276 mm (average 120 mm) and subsequently high rabbit numbers. Since the 1995 breeding season, Wedge-tailed Eagles have failed to breed. A study in Western Australia found Wedge-tailed Eagles do not breed unless the abundance of rabbits reached 1.6/km. It would appear that the decline in raptor breeding activity is linked to the RCD-induced decline in the rabbit population. I. D. FALKENBERG (1998) V^th World Conf. BOP & Owls: 38

Aurora’s [Aurora Energy Pty Ltd] bird mortality project is about to enter the busiest time of the year, now that we’re into the breeding season for most of Tasmania’s birds, including raptors such as goshawks and eagles. Environmental Officer Jo Hess says that August-March is the high risk period for bird collisions with our assets, causing bird electrocutions and power interruptions to our customers. "A particular problem seen during the breeding season is a result of birds establishing nest sites and beginning their courtship rituals. As a part of these rituals birds, such as the male Grey Goshawks, select prominent perches to display their territoriality to other males. Unfortunately, the power poles selected by males as a display perch can prove to be a death trap."

A community of Grey Goshawks at West Montague, west of Smithton, can now fly in greater safety, thanks to the efforts of Aurora and the Parks and Wildlife Service. Aurora has carried out major alterations to poles on three neighbouring properties in the goshawks’ territory, adding elevated bird perches and insulating the energised conductors. Bird spikes, designed to prevent the goshawks from perching on the crossarms, have also been installed on the poles. Jo said Aurora became aware of the problem following reports, from landowners, to the Parks and Wildlife Service, of dead goshawks being found under the poles on their property - and had acted immediately to solve the problem. "The Grey Goshawk is listed as a threatened species under the Tasmanian Threatened Species Protection Act, 1995. North West Tasmania probably holds more than half of the state’s population of Grey Goshawks. They’re an extremely rare bird [a gross overstatement - SD]and it’s important we do everything we can to protect them." The bird mortality project had been initiated in 1996: in response to a similar incident at Wynard where, over a six year period, an estimated six or seven goshawks had fallen victim to a single power pole.

Jo also asks that if anyone finds any dead or injured birds, near our assets, to report them even if they are not associated with an outage. "Because many raptors are endangered species, we need more information on electrocution", she said, "So, whenever possible, we try to collect eagle and hawk bodies for analysis". Aurora News (4) October 1998*

Populations of Australia’s largest bird of prey, the Wedge-tailed Eagle, are crashing across much of the continent as birds deprived of their chief food source, the rabbit, are starving to death or failing to breed. Farmers report that desperately hungry birds are turning to domestic animals, in one case carrying off a miniature-horse foal. Mrs Jenny O’Connor was dumbstruck when she saw an eagle fly off with the five-kilogram foal in its talons, at her stud near Beaufort, near Ballarat [VIC]. She later found the half-eaten carcass of the three-week foal, which had been sold for $4,000. Mrs O’Connor said eagles had been hunting in small flocks, attacking her pet dog and cat and even adult horses. "I don’t let my kids out to walk in the paddock any more in case they turn into lunch," she said, "I don’t like them eating my horses, but I don’t like to seem them starve either."

On another farm in the Beaufort region, Mrs Dorothy Atkins has lost several goats to eagles over the past 12 months. (Were these beasts tied, helpless, at the blackberry patch - Ed?) "They just swoop down on them," Mrs Atkins said, "We’ve been here for 37 years and it had never happened before, until the rabbits went away." Rabbit numbers have plunged since the escape of the rabbit calicivirus in 1995. Research by the South Australian Environment Department shows eagles have not bred for at least three years in the Cooper’s Creek basin in the state’s north-east. Elsewhere birds are not breeding or are producing fewer young.

A research paper by the conservation group Birds Australia says calicivirus ..."will potentially have serious implications"... for several species of birds of prey already suffering from poisoning, shooting, and habitat degradation. Victoria’s Department of Natural Resources and Environment’s wildlife damage control officer, Mr Ian Temby, said an increase in complaints about eagles preying on domestic stock in Victoria coincided with the decline in rabbit numbers. G. ROBERTS The Age 21/10/98*

{A} Would these "small flocks" of wedge-tails be better explained as family groups of three or four; or as casual joinings of a few youngsters, still learning the ropes of predation? {B} As if anyone has ever authoritatively documented Wedge-tailed Eagles molesting children - age and size unspecified moreover! The reporter should have checked the facts, rather than relying on lurid folklore. See the following article for a reporter who did check her facts, with great care. If only more environmental reports were of this high, sober quality. Even so the author went out on a limb, in declaring a victory over the pesky bunny - Ed!!

The deadly calicivirus that has devastated Australia’s rabbits may be having a knock-on effect on indigenous wildlife. Wedge-tailed Eagles Aquila audax have not bred for the past three seasons in the Strzelecki Creek region of South Australia, according to a study from the Australasian Raptor Society [i.e., Association] and the state’s government. Rabbits had become the food of choice for many birds of prey, so the researchers suspect that the failures are due to food shortages.

`The calicivirus reached the mainland in 1995 from Wardang Island, off South Australia, where it was being tested as a method of controlling rabbit numbers. It spread quickly across the country, decimating rabbit populations. But, from the start, conservationists have been worried that either the virus itself, or the shortage of rabbits for food, would affect Australia’s natural fauna. Those fears now appear to be being realised - although, to date, there is no evidence that any species is seriously threatened. The overall abundance of birds of prey has declined in areas affected by the calicivirus, according to Birds Australia, an organisation that uses volunteers to estimate bird populations. Brown Falcons Falco berigora are the hardest hit, with the number of sightings down by half over large swathes of temperate Australia. Curiously, the number of road-side sightings of Wedge-tailed Eagles has doubled during the summers since the introduction of the virus. But that may be due to changes in the birds’ behaviour brought about by hunger, claims William Steele, a project officer with Birds Australia in Melbourne. He suspects that the eagles are being driven to feed on road kills.

Roger Pech, a population ecologist in Canberra with the Wildlife and Ecology division of CSIRO, Australia’s national research organisation, is sceptical of the Birds Australia data. For long-lived raptors it should be too early to see the effects of the reduction of rabbits, he says. But breeding success could be hit more quickly. CSIRO’s own studies of wedge-tails, around Lake Burrendong in New South Wales, have so far been inconclusive. In the first year following the virus outbreak, most of the eagles bred successfully.

Another CSIRO study, in the same region, has found early indications that more Brushtail Possums, a native species, are being eaten by foxes and feral cats since the rabbit decline. "In the short term, it’s a real concern that feral cats and foxes will eat the indigenous species," says Pech. But the reduction in rabbits may, in the long term, be beneficial to native animals. In the Journal of Applied Ecology (vol 35, p 434), Pech describes a model of prey-predator interactions that predicts that the lack of rabbits will eventually lead to a reduction in the number of introduced predators - such as foxes and feral cats.

Scientists are studying the potential for a new, more potent strain of the rabbit-killing calicivirus after the failure of the existing virus in large parts of Australia’s temperate regions, including Victoria. The Federal Government’s chief scientist for the disease, Dr Brian Cooke, said that after its stunning debut in Australia’s arid regions, the calicivirus was continuing to perform well below expectations in cooler areas, mainly in Victoria and New South Wales. "The impressive initial result sold the wrong message, that the task was done and extra effort was not needed. We want to see why it is not working well here, and see if we need to gee it up a bit, " Dr Cooke said. "We thought it would be patchy, and we probably hoped it would work as well as possible over a much bigger area. So, from that point of view, because it’s followed what we expected, it’s OK, but perhaps it’s not gone as far as I would have hoped".

Government scientists have ... begun working on a program to determine if temperate regions need a supercharged strain, or a new dose of the calicivirus to boost the performance. Dr Cooke said the virus had been most effective in the Northern Territory, western Queensland, New South Wales, and the wheatbelts of Western Australia and South Australia. The CSIRO has established a monitoring site, west of Bacchus Marsh, to determine why the calicivirus is not as potent in cooler and wetter regions. One theory is that rabbits, in these areas, have more food and can produce more offspring than other rabbits, thus effectively outbreeding the virus.

Despite not being the cure-all that many farmers had hoped for, scientists and governments believe the calicivirus still has had a significant impact on rabbit numbers, by refocussing the community on eradication of these pests. The director of the calicivirus program in Victoria, Mr Steven Burke, said a combination of the calicivirus and traditional rabbit eradication programs, reignited by the introduction of the virus, had significantly reduced rabbit numbers in the state. The State Government has allocated $10 million, over the next three years, for its Rabbit Buster program, to help farmers resume traditional eradication practices. The Government believes the calicivirus has reduced Victoria’s rabbit population by about 30 per cent. The CSIRO has begun long-term work on the next generation of biological agents, to further complement the calicivirus. B. MITCHELL The Age 18/11/98*

I received one female on 23/12/95. She had only odd traces of down left. I manually removed approximately 12 throatworms; and treated an infected wound to her wing with antibiotics (suspected cat attack). The wound responded to the antibiotics; and routine throat checks throughout her stay revealed no further throatworms. She required force feeding for the first seven days; and was extremely aggressive towards me and unsettled in captivity. The male was received a week later. He was smaller, and had traces of down left. He was found on the ground, being attacked by magpies and a domestic dog. Generally, he was more submissive. He mantled, cowered and beak snapped in the corner when I approached. He ate well.

The day I received the male I decided to introduce the two birds, hoping that the male would encourage the female to eat. The female attacked him immediately, with her talons and beak, whilst he huddled and mantled in the corner. Occasionally, he would make weak attempts to fight back. I let it continue, and hid to spy on them, realising that it was all bluff. The female mantled over the male for at least half an hour; so I let them do it, to sort things out (with fingers crossed). One hour later, the birds were still in the same positions but things were settling down. Another hour after that they were on the highest perch, quite close - much to my amazement. Food was left overnight, as usual. It was eaten, the following morning. From here on, both birds ate very well. I was advised that it was not likely to be as successful to hack at this age; and there was, probably, no benefit in placing them in the hackbox. The birds were placed in a flight aviary. Advice was given that they should be held, therein, for 10-14 days. There is no benefit in keeping them any longer. They were unlikely to bond.

At the end of that time, the weather forecast was fine. The aviary door was opened at 10 pm. Early next morning, White-plumed and Singing Honeyeater, Magpie-larks, White-rumped Miners, Australian Magpies and Willie Wagtails were all mobbing the female in the pine trees that, in the past, have provided day-time roosts for many owls. The male flew out of the aviary door, as I approached. He landed in a tree close by, attracting the horde of mobbers in seconds. Both were in the same positions, at dusk. Plenty of food was left out for the night. The second morning out, both were in a pine tree - about 2 feet apart I found that they preferred the food left out in the open. They were reluctant to go back, near the aviary, for the first few nights.

For the next three weeks, we watched them at dusk: hunting moths in the floodlights, and sparrows roosting in the shrubs. They seemed to take the food I supplied fairly late in the evening, as if preferring to catch their own. The owls avoided us totally and, each day, could be found in a pine 2 feet apart. The honeyeaters and wagtails always indicated their exact locations, plus they could always be seen. The ABBS bands could also be seen, at times. Their casts revealed mouse fur and insect exoskeletons. After three weeks, I placed food out every second night; then I kept reducing, gradually, from then onwards.

Approximately six weeks after release, there were days when the mobbing could not be seen nor the owls; and when their supplemental food was not taken overnight. They would return after a couple of days, and then disappear again. This pattern continued for a few weeks. I stopped putting out food when they stopped taking it. Sometimes one owl would call to the other, in the river red gums, sounding similar to a cricket. During March 1996 only the female was seen then, on April Fool’s Day, the male returned. The two were roosting together, once more, in the pines. Both still visited the property, regularly, throughout May. In June, we saw only one - at dusk and dawn - but are unsure if both are still around. They seem to have bonded, after all. A. WILLIAMSON Bird Care & Conservation Society (unrferenced)*

Two days before New Year, 1997, the Philippine Eagle Pithecophaga jefferyi reached its centenary in zoological nomenclature. Its discovery, in June 1896, during exploration on Samar by John Whitehead, was an astonishing event. So many explorers, including Whitehead himself, had missed it for so many years, and this was not some small retiring, nondescript but just about the world's largest raptor and, as it turned out, the top rain-forest carnivore in the four largest islands - Luzon, Samar, Leyte and Mindanao - of the main Philippine archipelago. (There is a life-size colour poster of this bird hanging on a wall, at Birds Australia headquarters. Believe me, I would not wear a monkey or squirrel suit in the vicinity of the real thing - it is enormous - Ed!)

Nevertheless, in the first 67 years after its discovery, the only interest shown in the species was by an anatomist exploring its affinities; and by foreign museums, and zoos, wanting to acquire specimens. Indeed it was the intensifying zoo trade, around 1960, coupled with excessive local trophy hunting, that prompted the late D.S. Rabor to set one of his students on a field study of the species, in 1963-64 (Gonzales 1968). The history of eagle research and management, since that pioneering study, illustrates some interrelated problems in conservation assessment: including the way assumptions made, in one generation of field-work, become truths in the next; how over-cautious interpretations of data promote possibly inappropriate management responses; how long-term projects develop self-justifying data sets; and how very low-contact species generate distorted beliefs in the degree of their rarity. (Of course the opposite can also happen - NJM).

To begin with Rabor (1965) had pronounced the bird extinct on Samar and Leyte, and almost so on Luzon: and this opinion was excepted uncritically, for at least a decade (ironically, it is Luzon that is now thought may possess the largest and most secure population of the species). Moreover, he declared that no more than 40-50 pairs could possibly survive on Mindanao, the first in a long line of underestimates that have crucially influenced the way conservationists have responded to the species' needs. Next, Gonzales decided that the pair of eagles whose nest he studied ranged over an area of "...at least...100 sq km": a casual, unsupported, one-off remark that has likewise profoundly affected the conservation effort. Gonzales (1969), Kennedy (1977), and Krupa (1989) all used this value in calculating population sizes. None of them explained why: even though at least four lower values for an eagle territory, ranging from 12.5 to 50 sq km, have been suggested by, or can be adduced from, other - and even their own - field work.

Kennedy was particularly diffident. Having ascertained that approximately 29,000 sq km of forest remained on Mindanao, he applied the 100-sq-km value to obtain a population of 580; but he also conducted field work in 640 sq km of this area, from which he extrapolated a Mindanao total of 309. This last, although it startlingly assumes a 100 per cent encounter rate, and yields a density of one pair per 188 sq km, was the one he decided was most appropriate (despite a 12.5-sq-km home range in birds he studied, which suggested to him "...that the area necessary to support a pair of eagles may not be as great as formerly believed"). As a consequence, the notion that there are, or then were, roughly 300 eagles on Mindanao (he allowed another 100 for the remaining three islands) quickly gained currency. Nevertheless, the full range of possibilities was not allowed: including factoring in of immature or unpaired adults (this can easily be more than half the population - NJM) - and the sense of desperate crisis was not dispelled. An immediate upshot was the establishment of a captive breeding programme, which for the last 15 years has been the dominant feature of conservation work directed at the species.

Once the ex situ programme was launched, that sense of crisis in the wild only deepened. Thus Krupa declared that eagles cannot traverse gaps between forest patches greater than 20 km, and cited five instances where birds were "downed" in the attempt. Alternative explanations, such as that these were old, wounded or diseased birds, or inexperienced starving youngsters, were not considered - even though the literature reveals that the adults will sometimes soar to great heights, which suggests that they must be able to cover large distances. However, if each isolated forest area (Krupa identified 37) is believed to contain an equally isolated and, without intervention, probably unviable population of eagles, the case for taking birds into captivity greatly improves.

With the 100-sq-km value, the total holdings of pairs of birds in these 37 fragments (total area 22,170 sq km) was found to lie in the range 89-222 (Krupa having allowed for 40-100 per cent habitat occupancy), fairly close to Kennedy's estimate a decade earlier. Most recently both Salvador (1994) and PEWG (1996), an official document with ministerial approval, have mistaken Krupa's numbers as referring to individuals, not pairs, so the population has been halved at a stroke. Worse, PEWG (1996) lists the number of birds recently sighted (60) in a table labelled as the ‘Total Wild Population’ - to which is then added the 17 plus captive animals to suspected extras, making " a total of 79 birds [that] could be counted for the entire species". One cannot help noticing the convergence of 79 and 89 (inevitably suggesting support for the lower of Krupa's already halved and, in any case, highly cautious values).

This all tends to reinforce the view that ex situ management is vital to the eagle. However, any programme that has cost a great deal of money, over the years, will inevitably seek to portray itself as necessary and relevant; and, if caution is needed anywhere, it is surely in the evaluation of current management options, based on the best possible information, irrespective of previous investments. There are many reasons for concern about captive breeding: not least the issue of disease transmission to wild birds; and the programme's current need for eggs, or eaglets, from wild nests. Moreover, it may take fledged birds 6 months before they can catch their own food. Another year, on top of that, may be needed before they are adequately independent. The question of how (and at what expense) any captive-bred bird can be trained in a way that begins to match such long-term preparation for self-sufficiency, is something that requires urgent airing.

Most basic of all, however, is the really nagging doubt that any captive effort is really appropriate. Because captive breeding only makes sense if there is somewhere to return the birds to, the greatest emphasis must fall on habitat preservation; and what that habitat might yet be found to contain. Even at this late stage in the degradation of the Philippine environment, this is worth considering afresh. Right back at the start Ogilvie Grant (1887) had observed: "That so large a raptor should have remained unknown till the present time only shows how easily these great Forest-Eagles may be overlooked". As an instance of this, it is worth mentioning that during the years Mr Salvin spent collecting birds in Central America he only once saw a Harpy Eagle Harpia harpyja. The fact is that, in the dense and lofty forests where these birds live, it is almost impossible to see them.

All the evidence tends to suggest that this perception is correct. It explains why the eagle went undetected by so many early explorers, for so long; how Rabor failed to find it on Luzon, Samar and Leyte; and how the rates at which birds were reported killed, or captured, could have been as high as they were. It is, at any rate, encouraging to learn that very recent analysis of Harpy Eagle density throughout its range now shows the species living at roughly one pair per 13-60 sq km, depending on fertility of the soil. Philippine soils are, for the most part, very fertile. None of this is to argue that the Philippine Eagle is not a highly threatened species, deserving our full attention! It is simply to suggest that the attention we need to give it is in the wild. The underestimation of population sizes is a common phenomenon and it is this, other than the appalling loss of habitat, in so much of its range, which may well emerge as the fundamental problem afflicting the Philippine Eagle in recent years. Whether so magnificent an animal will live to see its bicentenary is not a question we should even have to ask - but I worry that it will only get that far if the myths about it do not. N. COLLAR (1997) Oryx 31(1)*

Gonzales, R.B., A study of the breeding biology and ecology of the Monkey- eating Eagle, Silliman Journal 1968, 15: 461-500.

Gonzales, R.B., Monkey-eating eagle survey, Mindanao Island, Philippines, in World Wildlife Fund Yearbook 1969, F. Vollmer (Ed.): 116-19, WWF, Morges, Switzerland.

Kennedy, R.S., Notes on the biology and population status of the Monkey- eating Eagle of the Philippines, Wilson Bulletin 1977, 89: 1-20.

Krupa, R.E., Social and biological implication for endangered species management: the Philippine eagle Pithecophaga jefferyi,

in B-U Meyburg & R.D. Chancellor (Eds) Raptors in the Modern World, WWGBP, Berlin, 1987.

Ogilvie Grant, W.R., On the birds of the Philippine Islands, Part IX. The islands of Samar and Leite, lbis 1897, 7: 209-50.

Philippine Eagle Working Group, Intergrated Conservation Plan for the Philippine Eagle Pithecophaga jefferyi, unpublished report, Department of Environment and Natural Resources, 1996.

Salvador, D.J.I., Socio-economic incentives for the conservation of the rainforest habitat of the Philippine Eagle Pithecophaga jefferyi, in B-U. Meyburg & R.D. Chancellor (Eds) Raptor Conservation Today, Pica Press, WWGBP, Robertsbridge, UK, 1994.

Australian Raptor Studies II, Proceedings of the 1996 ARA Conference, G. Czechura & S. Debus [Eds], Birds Australia Monograph 3, Birds Australia, Melbourne, 1997.

The Birds of Prey of Australia: A Field Guide, S. Debus, Oxford University Press, Melbourne, 1998 (HANZAB spin-off series). Reviewed by N. Mooney in Emu 98 (3) 1998: 27 & Emu; 8 (4) 1998: 328 by Chris Pavey. In both cases, the review was highly complimentary.

The Barn Owl (15992), C. Shawyer, 1997, obtainable from Subbuteo Natural History Books Limited, Pistyll Farm, Nr Mold, Flintishire, North Wales, UK, CH7 4EW. Wildlife and Travel Catalogue 1999. Bracketed number is catalogue entry.

SASOL Birds Of Prey Of Africa And Its Islands (16389), A. Kemp, 1998, obtainable from Subbuteo Books.

Demography In The Northern Spotted Owl, E.D. Forsman, S. DeStefano, M.G. Raphael & R.J. Gutierrez (Eds), Cooper Ornithological Society, Studies in Avian Biology 17, Lawrence (Kansas) USA, 1996. Reviewed in The Journal of Raptor Research 1997 31 (2): 197-8; Ibis 1998 140 (2): 345 & The Wilson Bulletin 1998 110 (3): 453-54.

Eagles: Masters Of The Sky (16338), R.L. Grambo, 1998, obtainable from Subbuteo Books.

Eagle’s Plume: Preserving The Life And Habitat Of America’s Bald Eagle, B.E. Beans, Scribner, New York, USA, 1996. Reviewed in The Wilson Bulletin 1998 110 (1): 142-3.

Eagle Studies, B-U Meyburg & R.D. Chancellor (Eds), WWGBP, Berlin, Germany, 1996. Reviewed in The Journal Of Raptor Research 1997 31 (2): 198-9.

Ecological Atlas Of Dutch Raptors, R.G. Bilsma et al, Schuyt & Co, Haarlem, The Netherlands, 1993. Reviewed in Ornis Fennica 75 (3): 149-52.

Flight-Feather Molt Pattern And Age In North American Owls, P. Pyle, American Birding Association Monographs In Field Ornithology 2, Colorado Springs, Colorado, USA, 1997. Reviewed in The Journal of Raptor Research 1997 31 (4): 392; The Auk 1998 115 (2): 553-4; Ibis 1998 140 (2): 350-1 & The Wilson Bulletin 1998 110 (2): 305-6.

The Golden Eagle, J. Watson, T. & A.D. Poyser, London, England, 1997. Reviewed in The Journal Of Raptor Research 1997 31 (3): 290-2; The Auk 1998 115 (2): 547-8 & Ibis 1998 140 (2): 197.

In-hand Identification Guide To Palearctic Raptors (16484), W.S. Clark & R. Yosef, 1998, obtainable from Subbuteo Books

The Long-eared Owl, D. Scott, The Hawk and Owl Trust [Books], Westcott Venture Park, Westcott, Aylesbury, Bucks HP18 OXB, England, 1997. Reviewed in Birdwatch 1997 66: 42.

Owls: A Guide To The Owls of The World (16330), C. Konig, F. Wieck & H. Becking, 1998, obtainable from Subbuteo Books

The Prairie Falcon, S.H. Anderson & J.R. Squires, University of Texas Press, Austin TX, USA, 1997. Reviewed in The Auk 1998 115 (1): 268-9 & The Journal of Raptor Research 32 (1): 74-5.

Raptors in Human Landscapes: Adaptations to Built and Cultivated Environments, D.M. Bird, D.E. Varland & J.J. Negro, Academic Press, London, England, 1998. Reviewed in Ibis 1997 139 (4): 709; The Wilson Bulletin 1997 109 (4): 754-5 & The Condor 100 1998 (3): 584-5.

The Raptors Of Europe And The Middle East, A Handbook Of Field Identification, D. Forsman, T. & A.D. Poyser, London, England, 1998. Reviewed, with high praise, in Birdwatch 80 February 1999: 41.

Raptors: The Birds of Prey, S. Weidensaul, Lyons and Burford, New York, 1996 & Raptors: North American Birds of Prey,

N.F. & H.A. Snyder, Voyageur Press, Stillwater, Minnesota, USA, 1997. Reviewed together in The Condor 1998 100 (2): 406-7.

Red-tails In Love: A Wildlife Drama In Central Park, M. Winn, Pantheon Books, 400 Hahn Road, Westminster MD 21157, USA, 1998. Reviewed in Birding, XXX (4) August 1998: 346-7.

Understanding Owls: Biology-Management-Breeding-Training (16315), J. Parry-Jones, 1998, obtainable from Subbuteo Books

The Windmasters: The Lives of North American Birds Of Prey (15979), P. Dunne, 1996, obtainable from Subbuteo Books.

J. Berkelmann, Habitat Requirements And Foraging Ecology Of The Madagascar Fish-Eagle, Ph.D. Diss., Virginia Polytechnical Institute and State University, Blacksburg VA, USA, 1997. Summarised in Wingspan {Raptor Research Foundation} 7 (2), September 1998.*

H. Chen, Observations of the breeding biology and the effects of habitat fragmentation on Formosan Crested Goshawks (Accipiter trivirgatus formosae) in K

BIRDS	PICK-UP	STATUS	RELEASE
Square-tailed Kite	23.11.96		14.4.97
Pacific Baza	19.1.97		17.4.97
Collared Sparrowhawk?	19.1.97	Died 19.1.97
White-bellied Sea-eagle	2.2.97	Died 3.2.97
Boobook Owl	7.2.97	Died 7.2.97
Boobook Owl	1.4.97		18.4.97
Boobook Owl	3.6.97	Still in care
Boobook Owl	1.7.97		4.7.97
Kestrel	5.8.97		10.8.97
Barn Owl	8.8.97	Died 9.8.97
Wedge-tailed Eagle	13.8.97		9.10.97
Wedge-tailed Eagle	9.11.97	Recaptured after release on 9.10.97. Died 10.11.97
Barn Owl	14.8.97		21.12.97
Barn Owl	17.8.97	Euthanatised 17.8.97
Barn Owl	18.8.97	Still in care
Barn Owl	20.8.97	Euthanatised 20.8.97
Whistling Kite	29.8.97	Died 29.8.97
Barn Owl	1.9.97	Still in care
Boobook Owl	8.9.97		7.12.97
Barn Owl	18.9.97	Died 18.9.97
Barn Owl	25.10.97	Euthanatised 27.10.97
Black-shouldered Kite	25.10.97	Died 25.10.97
Brahminy Kite	15.11.97		12.12.97
Kestrel	17.11.97	Still in care
Boobook Owl	17.11.97	Still in care
Boobook Owl	23.11.97	Still in care

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