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13

Powerful Owl

(Ninox strenua)
Alternate name(s): "Great Srub Owl"
Size: 60-65 cm; wing span: 110-135 cm
Weight: 1.15-1.7 kg (male); 1.05-1.6 kg (female)

Similar
species

Description     Classification     Distribution     Sightings     Photos     Breeding     Nest     Eggs     Behaviour     Food     Call/s

Physical description

Click here for a physical description

Taxonomy, classification

See Powerful Owl at Wikipedia .

Range, habitat, finding this species

Click here for information on habitat and range

Sightings

Click here for sighting information

Photos

ADULT

Sex unknown

Close-up portrait of an adult Powerful Owl (photo courtesy of C. Charles)
[Chatswood, NSW, January 2012]

Frontal view of an adult Powerful Owl (photo courtesy of C. Charles)
[Chatswood, NSW, January 2012]

Near-frontal view of an adult Powerful Owl (photo courtesy of H. Mouritsen)
[Near Sydney, NSW, January 2011]

Near-lateral view of an adult Powerful Owl (photo courtesy of H. Mouritsen)
[Near Sydney, NSW, January 2011]

Near-lateral view of an adult Powerful Owl (photo courtesy of R. Druce)
[Coolah Tops NP, NSW, January 2018]

Lateral view of a Powerful Owl on a low roost (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Whites Hill Reserve, Brisbane, QLD, March 2019]

Close-up dorsal view of an adult Powerful Owl looking back over its shoulder (photo courtesy of H. Mouritsen)
[Near Sydney, NSW, January 2011]

"A burp or a yawn?"... (photo courtesy of B. Hensen)
[Sydney, NSW, March 2016]

IMMATURE/JUVENILE

Frontal/ventral view of an immature Powerful Owl; note the barring on the body indicative of adult plumage, but the still partly white head (photo courtesy of B. Hensen)
[Centennial Park, Sydney, NSW, January 2019]

Adult, left, and immature Powerful Owl (photo courtesy of B. Hensen)
[Centennial Park, Sydney, NSW, January 2019]

Powerful Owl with a juvenile (photo courtesy of B. Hensen)
[Centennial Park, Sydney, NSW, October 2018]

8-week old Powerful Owl chick practicing its wing beat; together with its sibling, the chick fledged the following night (photo courtesy of C. Charles)
[Chatswood, NSW, August 2010]

Near-frontal view of a fledgling Powerful Owl (photo courtesy of B. Hensen)
[Centennial Park, Sydney, NSW, August 2018]

Breeding information

Breeding season: Apr - Sep Eggs: 1 - 2 Incubation period: 36 - 38 days Fledging age: ca. 56 days

Nest building: Male Incubation: Female Dependent care: Male & female

Nest

"bungobittah", "lar", "malunna", "jindi" [bundjalung] = nest [Aboriginal]

Type: Tree hollow Material: Wood dust Height above ground: >10(?) m

Powerful Owls need large hollows and therefore require massive, old trees for nesting.

From its exertions, while sitting in the opening of the nest hollow, this Powerful Owl chick became a bit drowzy...
(photo courtesy of C. Charles)
[Chatswood, NSW, August 2010]

... and finally fell asleep (photo courtesy of C. Charles)
[Chatswood, NSW, August 2010]

Eggs

"boyanga", "booyanga", "derinya", "dirandil", "koomura", "mirk", "ngampu", "nooluk", "pateena", "pum-pum" = Egg; "dirundirri" = eggs [Aboriginal]; "gawu" = eggs [gamilaraay]

Size: 54 x 45 mm Colour: White Shape: Tapered oval

Food, Diet

Powerful Owls are known to take prey as big as small mammals, for example possums.

Powerful Owl with its prey, a flying fox (photo courtesy of B. Hensen)
[Centennial Park, Sydney, NSW, October 2018]

Frontal view of a Powerful Owl holding the remnants of a possum; the bird's partner, which had been seen in the same area before, was not seen for a while, making it possible that the bird is holding on to its prey to feed its nesting partner
[Centennial Park, Sydney, NSW, June 2015]

Call(s)/Song

For this species we have recorded the following call(s)/song. The interpretation of their meaning is our own; comments and suggestions for improvement are welcome.

powrowl_tt_20210510.m4a (SE QLD) Contact calls © TT
powrowl_tfd_20220820.mp3 (SE QLD) Contact calls © TFD

More Powerful Owl sound recordings are available at xeno-canto.org .

These pages are largely based on our own observations and those of our contributors. The structure of these bird pages is explained HERE. For more salient facts on any bird species please refer to a field guide.

Would you like to contribute photos or sound recordings to this site?
If interested, please CLICK HERE. Credits to contributors are given HERE.