From North Shore Times 14 APR 2011 http://north-shore-times.whereilive.com.au/news/story/fatal-brush- with-an-owl/ FATAL BRUSH WITH OWL
THIS Powerful Owl has a message for brush turkeys who may harbour dreams of taking over the North Shore – not in my backyard.
Mary Maloney was enjoying a quiet afternoon at her Pymble home on March 17 when the tranquility was broken with the cries of distressed native mynas.
“We live in a fairly bushy part of Pymble and there is remnant forest and a creek in the backyard,” Ms Maloney said.
“The mynas usually get disturbed if there is anything unusual in the trees and they were just absolutely frantic in the forest,” she said.
When she walked into her backyard she quickly saw why, spotting a giant bird of prey nestled in a palm frond with the unfortunate, already dead brush turkey clasped in its mighty talons.
Ms Maloney said it was the first time she had seen one with a conquered brush turkey.
She found herself just below the owl, almost close enough to grab the dangling turkey if she had wanted to, and estimated the owl was about 61cm in length.
Sensing a very rare photo opportunity she grabbed her camera and the owl glanced in her direction with a perturbed expres- sion before turning away and dismissing her. “He looked like he was thinking ‘what are you doing with that?’ But then just sort of majestically turned his head around and looked away,” she said.
The owl stayed perched in her yard until sundown when it spread its wings and flew off down the creek line with the dead turkey still in its grip.
While the turkey is long gone, Ms Maloney has been left with enduring memories from the close encounter.
Chris Charles 0412 911 184 licole@ozemail.com.au 33deg 47’30″S 151deg10’09″E
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It is school – Easter-Anzac Day holidays. Perhaps they were noisy minors? There have been a few of them around here lately. I have actually been astonished to see children OUTSIDE playing these holidays!! Wendy
What a great article – the photo makes it and it’s well worth checking out the link in Chris’ email.
Alistair
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Many residents of Sydney’s Upper North Shore would be saying ” More Power to the Owls”. Pity the journo could not get the spelling of Noisy Miner right. But then, hey, s/he/it is only a journalist and after all, they only deal with facts , not words.
Cheers,
Carl Clifford
From North Shore Times 14 APR 2011 http://north-shore-times.whereilive.com.au/news/story/fatal-brush-with-an-owl/ FATAL BRUSH WITH OWL
THIS Powerful Owl has a message for brush turkeys who may harbour dreams of taking over the North Shore – not in my backyard.
Mary Maloney was enjoying a quiet afternoon at her Pymble home on March 17 when the tranquility was broken with the cries of distressed native mynas.
“We live in a fairly bushy part of Pymble and there is remnant forest and a creek in the backyard,” Ms Maloney said.
“The mynas usually get disturbed if there is anything unusual in the trees and they were just absolutely frantic in the forest,” she said.
When she walked into her backyard she quickly saw why, spotting a giant bird of prey nestled in a palm frond with the unfortunate, already dead brush turkey clasped in its mighty talons.
Ms Maloney said it was the first time she had seen one with a conquered brush turkey.
She found herself just below the owl, almost close enough to grab the dangling turkey if she had wanted to, and estimated the owl was about 61cm in length.
Sensing a very rare photo opportunity she grabbed her camera and the owl glanced in her direction with a perturbed expres- sion before turning away and dismissing her. “He looked like he was thinking ‘what are you doing with that?’ But then just sort of majestically turned his head around and looked away,” she said.
The owl stayed perched in her yard until sundown when it spread its wings and flew off down the creek line with the dead turkey still in its grip.
While the turkey is long gone, Ms Maloney has been left with enduring memories from the close encounter.
Chris Charles 0412 911 184 licole@ozemail.com.au 33deg 47’30″S 151deg10’09″E
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To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message: unsubscribe (in the body of the message, with no Subject line)
http://birding-aus.org ===============================
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To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message: unsubscribe (in the body of the message, with no Subject line)
http://birding-aus.org ===============================