Hi All,
West coast highway this morning, five crows mobbing a Barn Owl pretty aggressively in flight…found it quite disturbing really…a rarely seen bird (ive only ever seen two)under attack and i reckon he would be lucky to survive it…my theory is there are too many crows because of human left overs and rubbish…the authorities have no trouble culling Corellas or Australian wood ducks on golf courses…does anyone know if they do counts on crows to determine their obvious overpopulation…they raid nests..rob eggs and attack fledglings…I would really appreciate any comments or the position of birds Australia if there is one…also, there is a southern boobook that has been visiting my back lane recently…got his call nailed and have had two visuals…
Sean Brealey
Sent from my iPad
On Apr 2, 2013, at 2:39 PM, John Graff
> G’day everyone > > We have planned a weekend of trips for the 4th and 5th of May this year, departing Emu Point Boat Harbour in Albany, WA. As always, the trips will run on a cost-share basis – the cost is expected to be $150 per person (per trip) with a full boat of 18 people, increasing if we do not fill the boat (e.g. to $180 with 15 people). > > We have not run trips at this time of year for a while, but the boat’s skipper has suggested this is usually when he has the highest bird numbers around the boat, so hopefully there will be something interesting. We hope to see the usual albatrosses, petrels and shearwaters, plus of course hopefully something more exciting (as always, unfortunately not guaranteed!). The only previous May trip (in 2004) yielded Black-bellied Storm-Petrel, Kerguelen Petrel and Arctic Tern. > > If anyone interested in booking a place, please contact me – preferably by e-mail at this address, but if required you can call my mobile (0424 008 179). There are currently still spaces on both days > > Cheers, > John > — > > — > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups “birdswa” group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to birdswa+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out. > > ===============================
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Good question – I have picked up a dead Barn owl that was killed by crows after being disabled in a car accident and they had made no attempt to eat it. Which is odd as crows will eat anything.
Rosemary
Even in the UK Barn Owls are ferociously mobbed by crows, sometimes fatally. Not sure why though. Where there are lots of crows Barn Owls become extremely nocturnal.
Rosemary Wales, UK
I don’t think there was any implication that Barn Owl numbers are low – no idea if they are of not but as you say all night birds are rarely seen in comparison with other species as not much birding at night!
I believe that locally (western side of Pt Philip Bay) there is a campaign to reduce the number of Little Ravens by a number of bodies as they predate on nesting Red-capped Plovers amongst other things.
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Are Barn Owls really low in numbers? I would have thought that the main reason they’re not seen that often is because they’re nocturnal. I’ve only seen 3 or 4 myself, but I’ve never gone looking for them. Was it last year that people were seeing lots of them around Melbourne?
I’ve no idea if crows are in unnaturally high numbers either. It’s quite likely, but you’d think only around tips, and that most of the unpopulated areas are unaffected.
Peter Shute
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