MASKED OWLS

Barn owl

Tyto alba

Length: 29–38cm Wingspan: 70–100cm Weight: 310–360g

Lives Australia-wide. Common, but shy and rarely seen. Distinctive heart-shaped face. Call is infrequent loud screech. Feeds mostly on small mammals, but also birds, reptiles, frogs and insects. Hunts mostly over open ground. Numbers rise during mouse plagues.

Eastern grass owl

Tyto longimembris Length: 30–38cm Wingspan: 100–115cm Weight: M 265–310g, F 310–480g

A ground-nester found in grasslands, coastal heath, swamps and farmland in eastern and northern Australia. Nomadic. Mostly silent, but may produce rasping screech or hissing trill. Hunts mainly for ground mammals.

Greater sooty owl

Tyto tenebricosa

Length: M 33–36cm, F 38–43cm

Wingspan: M 82–111cm, F 101–118cm

Weight: M 490g, F 890g

Lives in south-eastern Australia forests. Large, heavily built with dark facial disc with black outline. Loud whistling screech, like a falling bomb. Hunts in forest gullies for possums, and also rats and bandicoots.

Lesser sooty owl

Tyto multipunctata Length: M 32cm, F 36cm Wingspan: M 79cm, F 90cm

Weight: M 370g, F 560g

Lives only in rainforest and other dense forest in far north QLD. Call is a bomb-whistle. Preys on small mammals and birds as well as geckos and frogs. May roost in caves. Nests in tree hollows, usually from March to May.

Masked owl

Tyto novaehollandiae Length: M 33–41cm, F 39–50cm

Wingspan: M 90–110cm, F 96–128cm

Weight: M 240–800g, F 545–1260g

Found in heavy forests within 300km of the coast in eastern and northern Australia, south-western WA and TAS. Has screeching hiss call. Bandicoots and rabbits are prey.