A most unfortunate end, not just for the field trip, and the owl itself, but also for this valuable research project. It promised to be a most interesting excursion that did not eventuate.
This field trip had to be cancelled because a cat killed the radio-tagged Southern Boobook on the night before the field trip. It was a sad end for an owl that had been banded for around 7½ years and radio tracked for most of that time. She has provided Jerry Olsen and his research assistants at the Applied Ecology Research Group of Canberra University with very valuable information about Southern Boobooks. This information covered areas of study such as vocalisations, hunting methods, breeding behaviour, roost and nesting hollow selection, migration between breeding and non-breeding territories and territory size. For example her non-breeding home range was calculated as 91 ha (95% Minimum Convex Polygon), which is larger than most other published home ranges for Southern Boobooks.
I was privileged to be involved in tracking her on the winter territory around Barton and Kingston. I was always amazed by her ability to avoid cars and other hazards of the urban environment. Her hunting skill was impressive. I once saw her give chase to a bat, which was amazing given the ability of bats to change direction very rapidly. I also once saw her hover around a shrub peering in for an unsuspecting sleeping bird.
In the end, it appears she landed on a fence near a cat that lay waiting in ambush. She put up quite a struggle, as there were feathers embedded into the fence. It shows why cats should be kept inside at night. It is strange but I see her clearly in my mind around her familiar haunts.
Steve Taylor