Hi All,
the Powerful Owl in the Sydney Botanical Gardens was seen again in a White Fig tree between the conservatory of music and Government house.
Interestingly, the bird appeared to be feeding on small figs in the tree, some photos can been seen here http://www.pbase.com/rob_hynson/powerful_owl
The bird initially reached up and pulled down a branch containing some figs and appeared to be eating them. After a while it was able to reach its head up to get to the figs and again, appeared to be eating them.
Has anyone seen this type of behaviour in a Powerful Owl, or any other species of Owl before? A brief look though HANZAB did not bring up anything other than birds, mammals and insects in their diet for which the results are based on pellet samples (presumably if Powerful Owls do eat figs this wouldn’t appear in the their pellets but in their feces).
Looking forward to hearing from others on this,
cheers,
Rob ===============================
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I agree with Rod that the unripe figs are unlikely to have much nutritional value for the Powerful Owl(s).
I was wondering if Powerful Owls swallow stones to help grind up ingested food in the gizzard? If so, maybe the PO(s) are consuming small hard fruits as a substitute for stones, if suitable stones aren’t readily available in the Botanic Gardens or other inner city areas. I admit that figs would not be as effective as stones in assisting digestion, which probably means my hypothesis is wrong.
Regards,
Stephen Ambrose Ryde NSW
Rod Kavanagh’s response to the observation of the PO eating figs in the Botanic Gardens is shown below.
Regards,
Stephen Ambrose Ryde NSW