Hunters supreme

RECENTLY I had cause to do some fauna surveying in the sand dunes behind Thirteenth Beach.

Not surprisingly, all I found were house mice in abundance and some black rats, exotic pest species that are abundant.

The mice, in particular, are not strictly nocturnal, and they will scamper about searching for food during the day.

It is then they are vulnerable to one of our best mousers, the nankeen kestrel.

This beautiful raptor is a master in the art of hovering well above the ground, often using the wind that rises up the front of the dunes.

When a mouse is seen, the kestrel closes its wings and drops with extraordinary precision — the mouse has no hope of escape.

But kestrels are diurnal hunters, retreating to a sheltered ledge in the cliffs or to a dense tree to sleep.

It is after dark that another master hunter is active.

The barn owl has extraordinary hearing, and can detect the presence of its prey in the darkness.

Its ears are slightly off-set, one from the other, so not only can the owl hear the mouse as it scuttles across the ground, it can gauge distance and direction.

Experiments have shown that the owl can hunt in total darkness, but the absence of all light is rare in nature.

This faint glow of light benefits the third of the mousehunters, the beautiful boobook, whose name has changed in modern literature to “morepork”. More about that later. One, two, three . . . there is a fourth. The black-shouldered kite is a diurnal hover-andpounce hunter, the same way the kestrel hunts.

It is just as well the mice are prolific breeders. Wildlife information and questions can be sent to ppescott@gmail.com