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Use of Vegetative Structure by Powerful Owls in Outer Urban Melbourne, Victoria, Australia-- Implications for Management

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Use of Vegetative Structure by Powerful Owls in Outer Urban Melbourne, Victoria, Australia-- Implications for Management j. RaptorRes. 36(4):294-299 ¸ 2002 The Raptor ResearchFoundation, Inc. USE OF VEGETATIVE STRUCTURE BY POWERFUL OWLS IN OUTER URBAN MELBOURNE, VICTORIA, AUSTRALIA-- IMPLICATIONS FOR MANAGEMENT RAYLENE COOKE AND ROBERT WALLIS 1 Schoolof Ecologyand Environment,Deakin University,Warrnambool Campus, Warrnambool, 3280 Australia JOHN WHITE Schoolof Ecologyand Environment,Deakin University,Melbourne Campus, Burwood, 3125 Australia ABSTR•CT.--ThePowerful Owl (Ninox strenua)is Australia'slargest owl and is consideredof leastconcern nationally. Although a number of studieshave reported on the ecologyof Powerful Owls inhabiting forests,few have focusedon these owlsliving in urban areas.We report on the characteristicsof different roost trees used by Powerful Owls in a continuum of habitats from urban Melbourne to the more forested outskirts.Records of weather conditions and daily temperatureswere also analyzedto deter- mine whether the owls were selecting particular roost trees for specific climatic conditions. We found that roost-treeheight and perch height was highly correlated, with the owls alwaysroosting in the top one-third of the tree, regardlessof the tree height. As ambient temperature increased perch height decreased,and vice-versa,but owlsalways roosted in the top one-third of the roost tree. PowerfulOwls did not simply move up and down the one tree, but moved to more suitable trees accordingto the weather conditions.Hence, the speciesrequires a structurallyheterogeneous habitat to provide roost trees for different temperatures.Furthermore, successfulmanagement of this speciesin the future will require the protection of structurallydiverse vegetation. KEYWORDS: Powerfitl Owl; Ninox strenua;disturbancg management;, temperature; urbanization; vegetation struc- ture. USO DE LA ESTRUCTURA VEGETATIVA POR NI•OX STRENUA EN EXTERIORES URBANOS DE MELBOURNE, VICTORIA, AUSTRALIA--IMPLICACIONES PARA EL MANEJO RESUMEN.--Ninoxstrenua es el bfiho m•tsgrande de Australiay es consideradonacionalmente de tnenor interns. Aunque un numero de estudiosse han concentradoen su ecologfaen bosques,pocos se tan enfocado sobre los que habitan en fireasurbanas. Reportamos las caracteristicasdel uso de diferentes firbolespercha utilizadospor Ninox strenuaen un continuum de h-•tbitatsdesde el Melbourne urbano hasta los alrededores mils boscosos.Adicionalmente se analizaron los registrosde condiciones clim•tticas y temperaturasdiarias para determinar si los bfihos estabanscleccionando firboles percha particulares debido a condicionesdimfiticas especfficas. Encontramos que la altura de los arbolespercha y la altura de la percha utilizada estabaaltamente correlacionadoscon el uso del tercio mas alto del •trbol, sin tener en cuenta la altura del firbol. Cuando la temperaturaambiente incrementaba la altura de la percha decrecia, y viceversa,pero los bfihos siempre percharon en el tercio mas alto del firbol percha. Los bfihos no se movieron simplementehacia arriba y abajo del firbol, siuo que se movieron a firbolesmils adecuadosde acuerdoalas condicionesclim•tticas. Por lo tanto, la espccierequierc un h•tbitatestruc- turalmente heterogfineoque proyea 'firbolesperchas para diferentestempcraturas. Ademfis de esto,el manejo exitoso de esta especieen el futuro requiere de la protecci6n de vegetaci6nestructuralmente diversa. [Traducci6n de C•sar Mfirqucz] The Powerful Owl (Ninox strenua)is the largest of up to 1700 g (Higgins 1999). The PowerfulOwl Australian owl. The male is slightlylarger than the is a nocturnal predator, with a diet consistingal- female, growing to a length of 65 cm with a mass most exclusivelyof medium-sized, arboreal, mar- supialprey (Websteret al. 1999, Cooke et al. 2002). E-mail address: [email protected] The Powerful Owl is classified nationally as of 294 DECEMBER 2002 THE POWF.RFtJt. OWL IN URBAN ENVIRONMENTS 295 "least concern" (rated nationally of conservation Yarra Valley Metropolitan Park (100 ha) and Warrandyte significance,but at the lowest level, Garnet( and State Park (586 ha), which were urban parklands man- aged tbr public recreation and 18 km and 24 km north- Crowley 2000), occurring at low densitiesin sou(b- east of central Melbourne, respectively.Both parks have eastern continental Australia. Within the state of been extensivelymodified in the past and now consistot Victoria the speciesis listed as endangered (De- riparian areas and the occasionalpatch of remnant n ees par(men( of Natural Resourcesand Environment, surrounded t)y a lnatrix of revegetated woodlands. Victoria 1999) and threatened within the Greater The next three sites along the continuum were One Tree Hill Reserve (143 ha), Smiths Gully (2.4 ha), and Melbourne Area (Mansergh et al. 1989). Estimates Steels Creek (21 600 ha). One Tree Hill Reserve and of population numbers in the state of Victoria are Smiths Gully are both located 35 km from central Mel- less than 500 pairs acrossthe state (Garnelt and bourne while Steels Creek is located 65 km front Mel- Crowley 2000). bourne. These three sites are all dry, open forests and The PowerfB1 Owl was once considered lo be a consistprimarily of different Eucalyptusspp. as upper can- opy trees with Acaciaspp. dominating the middle story. specialistin ecological terms becauseof its appar- These three sitesare also regularly visited by people and ently restricted habitat and dietary requirements also show signs of disturbance. (Fleay 1968, Seebeck1976, Roberts1977), indicat- The sixth site along our contimmm wasToolangi State ing that it is vulnerable to habitat modification and Forest (35 000 ha), which is located 80 km northeast of that it has specific conservation needs. Recent Melbourne. This forest is a relatively undisturbed wet sclerophyllforest dominated by mountain ash (Eucalyptu• studies, however, have contested these earlier find- regnans).Middle story speciesare less common in th•s ings and consequentlyhave questionedthe degree area; however, the understory is dominated by various to which the PowerfB1 Owl is vulnerable to habitat t•rns and bracken. modification and disturbance (Debus and Ghafer ME 11tODS 1994, F•avanagh and Barnkin 1994, Pavey et al. 1994, Gooke et al. 1997, Gooke et al. 2002). A total of 1300 day visitswere made to the six study Urban and suburban areas surrounding Mel- sitesbetween 1996-99. During these visitsthe roost tree in which the Powerful Owl was located was recorded bourne have been mosdy cleared throughout the Roost trees were those in which Powerfid Owls spent ume past 100 years,with only small patchesof remnant (luring the daylight hours. vegetation remaining. Surprisingly,Powerful Owls Here, we examined the different roost trees used by still remain in some urban areas, with one known the Powerful Owl at each of the study sitesand the char- breeding pair located only 18 km from central Mel- acteristicsof each tree used. These included the specms bourne. PowerfBl Owls have also been recorded of tree, tree height, and the diameter at breast height (DBH). Records of weather conditions and daily temper- living in close proxinfity to other Australian cities, areres were also analyzed to determine whether the owls including Brisbane (Paveyet al. 1994, Pavey1995) are selecting particular roost trees for specific climatic and Sydney (Rose 1993). Little research has been conditions. undertaken to determine the resources these owls Each study site wasvisited at least once weekly over a 4-yr period and each roost tree was examined for the require tbr long-term survival in urban environ- presence of the Power•hl Owl or evidence that an owl ments. Here, we describe roost tree characteristics had used the tree recently. Evidence of usage included and features of roosts used in urban and suburban fresh whitewash (excreta) or regurgitated food pellets areas by PowerfB1Owls. Resultsfrom this studyare Temperature and weather conditions were noted, regur- then used to identify managementoptions for Pow- gitated ibod pellets were collected and, in situations where the Power(if( Owl was using the roost tree, the erthl Owls in urban areas.The resultsof this study perch height was measured using a clinometer. may also provide valuable infbrmation for the fu- ture managementof other top-order raptors with RESUI •TS similar ecological attributes in urban areas. The PowerIhl Owls used 179 individual roost STUDY AREAS trees at the six study sites. Twenty different tree During this study, we exatnined how Powerful Owls specieswere used as roost trees. The main trees used the structure of vegetation in a continuum of en- used for roostingwere Eucalyptusspp. (54%), Aca- viromnents ranging from urban Melbourne (two sites), cia spp. (18%), and Leptospermumspp. (15%). Oth- through the urban tkinge (three sites), and into more er roost trees were hazel pomaderris (Pomaderrzs forested areas (one site). Each site was selected on the basisthat it had a confirmed breeding pair of owls pres- aspera),the introduced Monterey pine (Pinus ra- ent for severalyears. diata), cherry ballart (Exocarposcupressij•brrnzs), The two sites located closesl to Melbourne were the Christmas bush (Prostantheralasianthos), the non- 296 COOKE ET AL. VOL. 36, NO. 4 Table 1. Roost-treecharacteristics at each of the six study sites.Values represent mean + 1.96 SE. TREE HEIGHT PERCH HEIGHT SITE N (m) DBH (cm) (m) Yarra Valley Metropolitan Park 22 15.7 +__2.2 55.0 q- 12.2 10.2 -+ 1.9 Warrandyte 29 13.3 --+2.3 40.3 + 11.3 9.6 q- 2.0 One Tree Hill 22 16.2 q- 1.9 48.8 _+ 10.0 12.2 -+ 1.9 SnmhsGully 24 12.7 -+ 1.8 37.1 _+9.7 8.1 _+ 1.1 Steels Creek 23 16.1 q- 2.2 38.5 q- 5.0 10.3 _+ 1.9 Toolangi 59 13.0 -+ 2.1 49.7 q- 9.6 11.2 -+ 1.8 Pooled data 179 14.4 + 0.9 45.6 + 4.4 10.4 --+ 0.8 indigenous sweet pittosporuin (Pittosporumundu- Given the varietyof tree speciesused by the owls latum), and swainppaperbark (Melaleucaericifolia). for roosting, we decided to determine whether the To determine whether the dimensions of roost roost trees were being used in a similar fashion trees varied between sites we colnpared the tree among sites.Specifically, the relationshipbetween height, roost height, and DBH of roost trees at perch height and tree height wasexainined. Over- each site (Table 1).
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