Wild Bird Wednesday 547 - Powerful Owl

I'm taking a short break from the robins this week to share some pictures of one of the more remarkable wildlife encounters I have ever had.

While doing some mammal watching north of Melbourne we came across a 'family' party of Powerful Owls (Ninox strenua). 

This species is native to south-eastern and eastern Australia, is Australia's largest owl.  This species measures 45 to 65 cm (18 to 26 in) in length and has a wing span of 112 to 135 cm (44 to 53 in). Unusually for owls, the male is slightly larger than the female on average.  Males have been reported at 0.99 to 2.22 kg (2.2 to 4.9 lb), while females can weigh from 1.04 to 1.6 kg (2.3 to 3.5 lb).  Its generally size and weight put it in the top ten largest owls in the world.

The adult male was feeding the two young owls (who were not the best flyers yet!) a brush tailed possum. (In terms of size, the possum is about the size of a house cat!)

We watched and photographed the owls for a while and then left then alone.  Surprisingly, one of the younger owls followed us along the path and very briefly landed on a low branch near us.  It that decided this was a bad plan and flew off.

All the pictures were taken during brief periods of illumination by torch light.

A really wonderful few minutes with a special animal. 

I would be honest to say, that I took a while to get to sleep after seeing these!

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