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Queensland Powerful Owl Report 2020

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Queensland Powerful Owl Report 2020 Powerful Owl Project in southeast Queensland Progress Report October 2020 Powerful Owl Project in southeast Queensland Progress Report Rob Clemens, Larry Chen, Callan Alexander, Susan Fuller October 2020 Citation This publication should be cited as follows: Clemens, R., and Chen, L., Alexander, C., Fuller, S. (2020) Powerful Owl Project in southeast Queensland, Progress Report. Unpublished report. BirdLife Southern Queensland, Brisbane. Copyright © BirdLife Australia This document is subject to copyright and may only be used for the purposes for which it was commissioned. The use or copying of this document in whole or part without the permission of BirdLife Australia is an infringement of copyright. Disclaimer Although BirdLife Australia has taken all the necessary steps to ensure that an accurate document has been prepared, the organisation accepts no liability for any damages or loss incurred as a result of reliance placed upon the report and its content. Cover image: Powerful Owl Ninox Strenua, by Amanda Robertson. Table of Contents Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................................................................ 5 Executive Summary ........................................................................................................................................................ 6 Introduction .................................................................................................................................................................... 9 Objectives ..................................................................................................................................................................... 11 Powerful Owl distribution in southeast Queensland ................................................................................................. 12 Powerful Owl observations .............................................................................................................................. 12 Figure 1. Map of Powerful Owl records in southeast Queensland at 25 km2 resolution................................... 14 Other Nocturnal bird locations in southeast Queensland in BirdData database ............................................. 14 Engagement.................................................................................................................................................................. 16 Number of people involved .............................................................................................................................. 17 Volunteer engagement and feedback .............................................................................................................. 20 .......................................................................................................................................................................... 20 Rat Poison Campaign ........................................................................................................................................ 23 Media attention .................................................................................................................................................. 24 Stakeholder Engagement ................................................................................................................................. 25 Acoustic Monitoring ..................................................................................................................................................... 26 QUT Acoustic Monitoring ................................................................................................................................. 26 Current Progress: ................................................................................................................................................ 26 Additional deployments ................................................................................................................................... 27 Impact of summer 2019/20 bushfires on forest owl habitat .................................................................................... 29 Methods .............................................................................................................................................................. 29 Results ................................................................................................................................................................. 31 Two research papers submitted to Sunbird in 2020 .................................................................................................. 33 Review of conservation status of three forest owls ................................................................................................... 35 Powerful Owl Ninox Strenua ............................................................................................................................ 37 Overview .............................................................................................................................................................. 37 Infraspecific taxa ................................................................................................................................................. 37 Range .................................................................................................................................................................. 37 Abundance .......................................................................................................................................................... 37 Ecology................................................................................................................................................................. 38 Monitoring ........................................................................................................................................................... 39 Threats ................................................................................................................................................................. 39 Australian Greater Sooty Owl Tyto tenebricosa tenebricosa ........................................................................... 41 Overview .............................................................................................................................................................. 41 Infraspecific taxa ................................................................................................................................................. 41 3 Range ................................................................................................................................................................... 41 Abundance .......................................................................................................................................................... 41 Ecology................................................................................................................................................................. 42 Monitoring ........................................................................................................................................................... 42 Threats ................................................................................................................................................................. 42 Southern Masked Owl Tyto novaehollandiae novaehollandiae ....................................................................... 44 Overview .............................................................................................................................................................. 44 Infraspecific taxa ................................................................................................................................................. 44 Range ................................................................................................................................................................... 44 Abundance .......................................................................................................................................................... 44 Ecology................................................................................................................................................................. 45 Monitoring ........................................................................................................................................................... 45 Threats ................................................................................................................................................................. 45 Comparisons of forest plots near Powerful Owl breeding and random locations ................................................... 47 Methods .............................................................................................................................................................. 47 Results ................................................................................................................................................................. 48 Literature Cited ............................................................................................................................................................ 50 Appendix A. Powerful Owl Project Volunteer Survey
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