Owl Friendly Margaret River Region | Community organisation

Owl Friendly Margaret River Region

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25.01.2022 Racumin now available in blocks for bait stations Feedback from pest controllers is that an obstacle to owl-friendly baiting is that first generation anticoagulant rodenticides are not available in blocks. Blocks that are secured on pins are required in external bait stations, rather than pellets and sachets, to help prevent the material being dispersed. The good news is that Racumin is now available in blocks, as pictured here at Margaret River Landmark.

25.01.2022 A riverside class with Echo the Barn Owl Who could ignore a plea from Echo the Barn Owl to not use wildlife harmful brands of rodenticides? Certainly not several hundred Our Patch primary school children participating in Nature Conservation’s annual end of program Bioblitz on the Margaret River foreshore last Wednesday. Echo, you are a wise owl indeed.

24.01.2022 Postcard from our new Victorian ‘Pen- Powls’ Steve Castan, aka estabanthenatureman and co-founder of the Margaret River Rodenticide campaign, has been aware of Powerful Owls in the vicinity of the Castan’s new home on Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula since moving there a year ago. To his great joy, two fledgling ‘powls’ made their presence known last week, possibly just emerged from a nearby hollow high in a manna gum. The Powerful Owl, a very large, truly powerful relative of the Boobook, is confined to forests of the eastern seaboard. The likely reason that the biggest Masked Owls are from Tasmania and SW WA is an absence of competition from Powerful Owls for large mammalian prey such as possums.

24.01.2022 Eyes are the window to the soul This haunting oil pastel of Barn Owl was drawn by Ylori Marshall, a Year 6 Montessori student, following a visit to the school by Owl Friendly’s Boyd Wykes. Ylori has captured the deep connection we feel when an owl returns and holds our gaze. Principal Lisa Fenton relates that Ylori has a keen interest in our native birds and other wildlife, often spotting all sorts in her Margaret River back yard ring tails, quendas, birds, frogs etc.

24.01.2022 Here’s to a more owl friendly 2021 It seems fitting that 2020 should close on a sour note but with optimism for 2021. The Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority (APVMA) released a ‘Summary of submissions to the public consultation on use patterns for anticoagulant rodenticide products’ in September 2020. https://apvma.us2.list-manage.com/track/click. This concludes that: A majority of submissions advocated for stricter regulation, including restricted acce...ss to certain formulations and updated label instructions. These submissions presented a variety of recommendations, including: restricting access to specific product forms (ie liquid, gel, wax block, powder, pellet) based on risk restricting use of products to secured, single use bait stations updated labelling including consistent, easy to follow instructions for use and requirements to dispose of used baits and carcasses. Despite this, Diane Evers, our MLC for the South West Region, has been advised by Maggie Hardy, the APVMA’s Chief Regulatory Scientist, that In general, submissions supported the continued use of anticoagulant rodenticides with recommended changes to harmonise label instructions. Unless there is new scientific information brought to the APVMA’s attention, it is likely the appropriate action with respect to label changes will be progressed by mid-2021. It would appear that the APVMA does not intend to significantly limit access to anticoagulant rodenticides for domestic use or restrict their use to indoor commercial settings. Very disheartening. On a brighter note, through Dr Mike Lohr we will be linking up with rodenticide campaigners elsewhere in Australia and the USA in the new year. Lisa Owens Viani, Director of RAPTORS ARE THE SOLUTION of the Earth Island Institute in Berkley California (www.raptorsarethesolution.org) has shared with us this Christmas greeting.

23.01.2022 A highlight of the Owl Friendly Augusta event on Friday was presentation of plaques to new Owl Friendly heroes. Jodie and Dorothy of Fair Harvest are leaders in sustainable practice and education in a myriad ways. Adding Owl Friendly Hero leadership to the list was a natural extension, even more so since Jodie has recently joined the Board of our sponsor. Pictured: Jodie Lane with Amy Beaton, manager of sponsor Augusta and Districts Community Bank branch of Bendigo Bank (right) and Owl Friendly’s Karen Majer.

22.01.2022 Our Owl Friendly program includes providing support for veterinarians who are at the sharp end of rodent poisoning in dealing with poisoned wildlife as well as pets. A package for vets is being developed by our group member Felicity Bradshaw, also well known for her work with ringtail possum conservation and currently Chair of the Geocatch conservation group. Felicity often helps out at the MARGARET RIVER VET HOSPITAL and so it is with great pleasure that we have recognised M...ichelle Doney and her team as new Owl Friendly Heroes. As well as caring for poisoned wildlife, Michelle’s team are raising awareness and providing advice on responsible rodent control at their Augusta, Margaret River and Cowaramup clinics. Pictured accepting an Owl Friendly Hero plaque is vet Amy Forsythe, for whom wildlife care and rehabilitation are a passion, with Amy Beaton, manager of sponsor Augusta and Districts Community Bank branch of Bendigo Bank (right) and Owl Friendly’s Karen Majer. See more

22.01.2022 Well done all the kids at Cowaramup Primary, our latest Owl Friendly heroes When Boyd presented a Hero plaque to Cowaramup Primary at Monday’s school assembly, there was no doubting the commitment of children, teachers and parents to ensure an owl friendly Cowaramup. For many years the school has been home to a pair of Tawny Frogmouths and many of the children experience owls in their own gardens. Well done Suzanne Anderson for facilitating the connection after getting involved through volunteering her expertise to help sort bones in Masked Owl food pellets. Pictured here is Boyd dressed up for a night of owling, and presenting the plaque to Principal Peter Howse.

21.01.2022 Smithereens Café, nestled off the highway in Cowaramup, has an added reason for settling in to enjoy a peaceful breakfast or morning coffee - proprietor Patrick Smith is a proud ‘owl friendly’ hero, promoting his commitment to meet health responsibilities without using wildlife harmful rodenticides.

21.01.2022 The Food Room is helping to ensure fine dining for Owls. Ange and Andy’s Food Room is our latest Owl Friendly Hero, managing vermin without putting our wildlife at risk and getting the message out through their many patrons.

20.01.2022 Owl Friendly ‘Couma’ blocks for rat bait stations New in stock at Landmark is ‘Couma’, a block suitable for bait stations with Coumatetralyl as its active ingredient which together with warfarin are first generation anticoagulants that wildlife can manage when present in prey. Many thanks to Merchandise Manager Chris Carlson for providing owl friendly guidance to Landmark’s customers and sourcing this additional first generation option.

19.01.2022 Courtship, mating, commencement of brooding at Masked Owl nests Here are a few clips on Youtube from extensive courtship and mating we have recorded with unobtrusive red light at one of two active Masked Owl nests. Both females are now ensconced in their hollows, with their mates bringing in food during the night. https://youtu.be/ByHpSIbRv_k

19.01.2022 Masked Owl mooching and moulting We hope you enjoy this Youtube clip of highlights from a long session last night with a Masked Owl filmed with unobtrusive red light. He was just hanging about for a couple of hours. We know that he is moulting from feathers collected under his roost and speculate that he is taking it easy, post-breeding to undertake an energy-consuming task that is vital to his capacity to hunt on silent wings. https://youtu.be/UCHWYH3CeF0

18.01.2022 Dunnarts on the menu for Masked Owls Yippee, this week Boyd completed analysis of the bones of prey in three years' worth of hundreds of Masked Owl regurgitated pellets collected at several difficult-to-locate roosts. Achieved with volunteer support, including this week from environmental scientist Shannon Clohessy. The final batch comprised 210 pellets from a pair nesting on the Margaret River downstream of town. As elsewhere the majority (84%) were non-native rats and mic...e. There were very few mouse-sized native marsupial insectivorous mardo and dunnarts. In fact only one Mardo (Antechinus flavipes), likely reflecting the sensitivity of this species to frequent fire. Better represented was its diminutive relative, the Grey-bellied Dunnart (Sminthopsis grisoventor), of which there were 24. Pictured is a dead dunnart recently found at Rotary Park with a reference specimen lower jaw, above which is the slightly larger jaw of a Mardo. Tricky detective work required! Augusta & Districts Community Bank Branch See more

18.01.2022 A light-weight dish Every scrap of information we gain on Masked Owls in SW WA helps us understand this highly cryptic, little studied species. During the 4 years of our study, we have only had regular access to two adults at their roosts. After a 6 months absence, it was great to find one of these back at his roost on the Margaret River on 14th February. In the subsequent two weeks we have collected 39 moulted feathers, including 3 wing feathers. At least for this bird, we know that late summer is a season for moulting.

15.01.2022 Independent School Principal Wendy Roediger was presented with an Owl Friendly Hero plaque at the Owl Friendly Augusta event. The Independent School is already a leader in conservation education on so many fronts including their Wadandi six-seasons walk trail through their forest reserve. A talk to the Kindy class by our member Sam Hines, dubbed ‘the Owl Man’, naturally led to the school agreeing to support the Owl Friendly Campaign as a Hero, with owls to be a class theme beginning in the 2021 year. Pictured: Wendy Roediger with Amy Beaton, manager of sponsor Augusta and Districts Community Bank branch of Bendigo Bank.

14.01.2022 Give a BOObook for Christmas A delightful journey from fear to joy for a small boy exploring the night on the wings of an owl: the recently released BOObook, written by Jennifer Mars and illustrated by well-known ‘Where’s Stripey’ the Emu author Wendy Binks is in stock at the Margaret River Bookshop. This very affordable gift will delight children while promoting the Owl Friendly message of responsible rodenticide management in a note to parents. Pictured is Wendy Binks at our November Owl Friendly seminar.

14.01.2022 Tough love: extracting Masked Owl livers for testing This weekend Felicity Bradshaw, our dedicated Owl Friendly Veterinarian conducted external and internal examinations of two Masked Owl corpses, extracted livers for rodenticide and muscle tissue for genetic analysis, and matched measurements to confirmed sex and age, prior to handing over the body for the WA Museum collection. One was a freshly dead early morning road kill collected by Wayne Webb at Quedjinup in May 2020. Sadly, a beautiful adult male with a stomach full of rat and an abdomen full of fat reserves, ready to breed. The heaviest male we have examined. The other found alive but terminally debilitated in Jalbarragup by Nancy Tang mid-winter 10 years ago. One of the lightest females we have encountered.

14.01.2022 Owl Friendly Garden posters part of an Australia-wide Birdlife Australia campaign Birdlife’s huge membership is being asked to individually ensure rat poisons do not get into our wildlife food chains. Their website includes beautiful downloadable ‘owl friendly garden’ posters that we can all display at our front doors https://www.actforbirds.org/ratpoison. Owl Friendly Garden posters - part of an Australia-wide Birdlife Australia campaign... Birdlife’s huge membership is being asked to personally ensure rat poisons do not get into our wildlife food chains. Their website includes beautiful downloadable ‘owl friendly garden’ posters that we can all display at our front doors. Featuring in media coverage of the campaign is the sad case of the death of a Boobook outside Birdlife’s Melbourne offices. As with the WA Boobooks in Mike Lohr’s PhD study, liver testing showed cause of death to be Second Generation Anticoagulant Rodenticides. Birdlife reports that over 3000 submissions calling for protection of wildlife were submitted to the current review of rodenticides by the APMVA, the authority responsible for scheduling such products. While waiting and hoping for a decision to appropriately restrict access, BirdLife Australia has written to major retailers of SGARs asking them to remove these products from their shelves. See more

13.01.2022 Ask at Mitre 10 for owl friendly rodent control! Lloyd and Anne Shepherdson have been supportive from the outset of our rodenticide campaign. Gardening guru Josh Pain is a member of our Rodenticide Action Group but all staff at Mitre 10 Margaret River know which products to purchase if rodents are seeking shelter in your home this winter. Pictured are Geraldine Clarke and Hannah Nicholls displaying Mitre 10’s Hero plaque. Check out all of the Owl Friendly Heroes at https://owlfriendly.org.au/sponsors/

13.01.2022 Q. Both the Hairy Marron and Masked Owls are charismatic local wildlife under threat. What else do they have in common? A. Paul Isles is bringing the plight of both to community attention through his popular Hairy Marron Café. The Hairy Marron is our latest Owl Friendly Hero, managing rodents through responsible practice and passing on that message to customers.

11.01.2022 Retreat to an Owl Friendly Refuge The Margaret River Retreat is our first accommodation venue to be recognised as an Owl Friendly Hero, following an approach by owners Sonia and Nick Edwards asking how they could help the cause. They were already responsibly managing rodents themselves, which goes hand in glove with their recent Ecotourism accreditation, and are now getting the owl friendly message out to their guests. The Retreat forms part of an important West-East wildlife corridor from the Leeuwin-Naturaliste Ridge to the hinterland forest, with extensive National Park habitat to explore in the vicinity. From our experience, all of our nocturnal birds are present including Masked Owls.

11.01.2022 Well done Rapids Landing Primary

11.01.2022 Nestling Masked Owl flies the coop Conditions were perfect on Friday night for Boyd to see if chicks were at the rim of a Masked Owl nest near Cowaramup where sound recordings indicated eggs had hatched. At dusk this very fluffy young male not only emerged from the nest hole but soon set off exploring, flopping rather than flying to nearby perches. We call an owl at this stage a ‘brancher’ rather than a fledgling. After crashing into some foliage just above the camera, he preened for a while to regain his composure before joining an older sister to greet a parent arriving with food. https://youtu.be/3dVqdEBnKR8. We know he made it safely home because next evening Sam and Boyd observed him emerge with his sister from a hollow close to the nest hole.

10.01.2022 Meet Ivy the Barn Owl at Eagles Heritage Eagles Heritage has reopened following Covid closure, spreading the love for raptors and owls as a way of ensuring their conservation. Phil Pain, pictured here with Ivy the Barn Owl, has supported the Owl Friendly campaign from its inception as a means of addressing the totally solvable threat of rat bait poisoning. Crazy that wild rats caught in our region cannot be fed to the Eagles Heritage birds because bitter experience has shown that these can have deadly levels of rat poison. Find out more https://owlfriendly.org.au/

10.01.2022 Owl Friendly Wild Life at the new WA Boola Bardip Museum Featured in the Wild Life exhibits at the splendid new Boola Bardip (many stories) WA Museum is an action-packed, punchy short film about Owl Friendly Margaret River the citizen science discovery of peri-urban Masked Owl population and the campaign to protect these and other wildlife from rodenticide poisoning. In advance of this week’s gala opening, some Rodenticide Action Group members were V.I.P. guests for an early 'story contributors' tour. A big thank-you to the Gondwanalink team for including us in a series of inspirational stories about community-led conservation across ‘the Link’. Photo Dr Rob Davis

09.01.2022 It was a full (COVID numbers) house at the Augusta Community Resource Centre last Friday for OWL FRIENDLY AUGUSTA. The illustrated talk by Boyd Wykes (below in the owl beanie!) on three years of citizen science research into the region’s Masked Owls, "The Masked Owl a rat catcher extraordinaire", gave us a fascinating insight into these elusive birds. Dr Rob Davis (Edith Cowan University) revealed the confronting results of the latest research on the impact of rodenticides on our wildlife. We finished on a positive note - this issue is being effectively tackled - we can and are turning it around. Find out how you can help at www.owlfriendly.org.au

07.01.2022 Masked owl chicks and fledglings are patiently waiting through the night for parents to arrive with prey. Please help us to get the message out to everyone that many freely available rat baits will render their meals lethal. You can get wildlife-safe rodent control advice here https://owlfriendly.org.au/rodent-control/ Share this and tell your friends and neighbours.

07.01.2022 Explorers are our latest Local Heroes Our rodenticide message will be heard far beyond our region through Cape to Cape Explorer Tours stepping out as an Owl Friendly Hero. In accepting the recognition at last night’s MRCCI environmental sundowner, Director Gene Hardy (pictured below right) explained that Cape to Cape Explorer Tours has the credibility of best rodent control practice at its Surf Point Resort accommodation and through its Cape to Cape Moveable Feast catering component as a basis for encouraging its large local and visiting clientele to follow suit. This year’s annual MRCCI-Nature Conservation sundowner was hosted by Surf Point Resort with catering provided by Cape to Cape Moveable Feast and beverages by fellow environmentally conscious business leaders The Brewhouse and Voyager Estate.

07.01.2022 A new recruit to the Masked Owl team Welcome to the team Suzanne Anderson, pictured here coming to grips with the bones of Masked Owl prey. Suzanne is a conservation manager getting back into the workforce after time off raising a family by helping sort through our extensive collection of prey items from pellets and in this case, remains of a bird retrieved from the bowl of a Masked Owl nest.

07.01.2022 Ma and Pa watching out for their young powls (Powerful Owls) Following up on the recent post of Powl chicks in Victoria. Steve Castan writes from his Mornington Peninsula home: Went to check on the Powls late afternoon yesterday (nearly dusk) - the fledglings were hiding but we saw Ma & Pa and splatter / remains of pellets. I will collect the pellets but hard to do when the birds are right above you tho !

07.01.2022 AMR Shire declared Owl Friendly Wonderful news that the Shire of Augusta Margaret River has been declared owl friendly as a means of highlighting support for our rodenticide campaign. Check out excellent coverage in this week’s Margaret River Mail that Councilors unanimously passed the motion at last Wednesday’s meeting. Congratulations to everyone involved and special thanks to our sponsor Augusta and Districts Community Bank, Branch of Bendigo Bank, who have provided ...such great support. Pictured here are Shire of AMR Environmental Health Officer Jacinta McKinlay with The Foodroom’s Andy Longmore, one of a growing group of owl friendly ‘Hero’ business owners committed to responsible rodent management. Together with Rodenticide Action Group Coordinator Boyd Wykes. Picture: Shire of Augusta Margaret River

06.01.2022 A comb comes in handy for a well-groomed Masked Owl The ‘Tytonid’ owls, of which we have Barn and Masked Owls in SW WA, have a nifty comb to help keep their feathers in top shape. When recently removing livers for analysis from some dead Masked Owls, we took the opportunity to closely examine the preening combs that are on the inner edge of a ‘pectinate claw’ on the front outer talon - the perfect place for a comb to provide a downward scratch preen’ of the head feathers. Note also that these, as with all owls, have what are termed zygodactyl feet, meaning that they have two rather than three toes facing forward.

06.01.2022 How to safely dispose of unwanted rat poisons in my cupboard John McKinney, AMR Shire Environment Landcare Services Co-ordinator, advises that they are ‘household hazardous waste’ which is a no-no for our landfill rubbish bins. The Shire is organising a hazardous waste collection day where residents can bring things like gas bottles, flares, old petrol, chemicals etc to be disposed of correctly. This was planned for earlier in the year but got ‘covided’. We will advise you when and where this will be happening. Meanwhile, we should store all of these items safely until that opportunity. Pictured a Margaret River Masked Owl fledgling just out of the nest this month.

05.01.2022 Masked Owl down but not out A beautiful Masked Owl, picked up without resistance on a driveway in Riverslea this week is doing well in the care of Phil Pain at Eagles Heritage. We think an immature female but at 600gm she is extremely underweight. Thanks to Tanya who wrapped her in a dressing gown and carried her just around the corner to the home of FAWNA wildlife carer Lynda Moyle. As indicated by rat bones in her first regurgitated pellet, the suspicion is that the owl is suffering from anticoagulant rat poisoning. As soon as she has settled into her new environment, our wildlife veterinarian Felicity Bradshaw will do a thorough inspection and take a blood sample. Will keep you informed on how she fares on the long path to clearing her system of poison, ready for release.

05.01.2022 Do I have black rats or native wildlife? Many of us have not seen small furry critters close up until one is caught in a non-lethal rat trap. Have I got a black rat problem or am I lucky enough to be sharing my garden with native rats or small marsupials? The National Museum is here to help. https://australian.museum//spec/ask-an-expert/is-it-a-rat/... Some suggestions for attracting rats into traps pumpkin seed, nuts, dried fruit, roasted oats (roast them in a pan until they have a great nutty smell), bacon. This quenda was caught in a trap set for rats at a chook pen. photo Boyd Wyk

05.01.2022 Late last year the first ever nests of Masked Owls in SW WA were located in Margaret River. Found when chicks were old enough to beg on the rims of their nest hollows. Working back on timing for courtship, laying, incubation and caring for young chicks, we are currently keeping close watch for breeding to recommence. Last week, deep in karri forest along a stream not far from town, a male has been seen entering a hollow, interacting with a bird inside, then departing with a ...farewell screech. We are confident that he is feeding a mate sitting on eggs, which our sound recorder tells us he is achieving around four times a night. Especially exciting is that this is a new nest discovery; until now we knew the nest hole was one of many possibilities in two ancient karris. This non-intrusive red light footage shows the male leaving the nest hole. Listen for soft ‘begging’ hisses of the female encouraging him to get more food. See more

04.01.2022 Check out this Masked lady checking us out! This week Sam and Georgie Hines braved the cold and drizzle to join Boyd in checking on how one of our Margaret River Masked Owl pairs are progressing at the commencement of breeding. Despite monitoring this pair successfully raise three previous broods, this is the first year that the nest tree is known and can be monitored prior to laying. Just on dusk the female and then the male gave ‘wake-up’ screeches to each other from nearb...y roosts. Then while he flew straight to the nest hollow, she first came in close to check us out, enabling our first quality photographs showing ‘chevron’ ventral spotting that typically (but not reliably) denotes a female. However there was no doubting her sex, being twice the size of her mate when perched together. Note her magnificent talons, well capable of handling a rabbit, possum or quenda. Her ‘outed’ admirers made a quick exit as she soon joined her mate in prenuptial cackling and screeching at the nest hollow. See more

04.01.2022 Welcome Glenbrook, our latest Owl Friendly Hero Glenbrook has long been a haven for wildlife and guests staying in the eco-retreat’s chalets and camping ground. Host Cherie Hindle, pictured with son Dan, is vigilant against foxes and cats in the retreat’s forest refuge but accepts that a local Masked Owl pair probably take the odd possum as well as rats and rabbits. All of our region’s owls have been recorded at Glenbrook including this Owlet Nightjar spotted on the forest track.

04.01.2022 Another new Owl Friendly Hero! Lower Blackwood Land Conservation District Committee (LCDC) is leading by example in rodent management at its Kyudardup offices and is powerfully placed to promote Owl Friendly awareness through its agricultural community membership and outreach into the Augusta district community. Tim Crimp, Chair of the Lower Blackwood, has a special connection with the campaign through having a pair of Masked Owls living on his Rosaglen farm. Committee member Bruce Hamilton is pictured receiving the plaque with Amy Beaton, manager of sponsor Augusta and Districts Community Bank branch of Bendigo Bank (right) and Owl Friendly’s Karen Majer.

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