The Powerful Owl Project

The Powerful Owl (Ninox strenus), is an apex predator and the largest owl in Australia. It is spellbinding bird that has been able to adapt to living within the urban environment despite its size and threatened status.

These Owls feed mainly on possums in the urbanised environment and they need large tree hollows to nest in. As there are so few large hollow bearing trees for a Powerful Owl within the reserves of Greater Dandenong, we have carved and installed a hollow in a local bushland reserve. The log used was repurposed from a large state government infrastructure project.

Powerful Owls have been spotted within the reserve so there is a good chance they will utilise the hollow in time, however it is most likely that the first occupiers of the carved hollow will be Brushtail possums or Sulphur-crested cockatoos.

Live stream

We have placed two cameras near the hollow: one observing the entrance and one inside showing the nesting cavity. 

Both cameras will stream the daily lives of the local occupants. When observing the live stream footage if you turn your sound on you will also be able to hear all the action.

While other man made habitat structures have been filmed, this is the first time for a carved hollow. The data collected could help significantly in the future conservation of this species and others like it.

We are currently experiencing technical issues with the camera feeds. We are working on fixing this issue. Apologies for the inconvenience.