There was much excitement at the Ralph Illidge Sanctuary recently when members of the friends group arrived for their usual monthly meeting. Spotted a short distance away perched high in a tree along one of the walking tracks were a pair of Powerful Owls together with their two fully-fledged young. The Powerful Owl is one of the rare wildlife species that can be found at the Sanctuary and finding four birds perched in the one tree created much interest as sightings are normally few and far between. Powerful Owls are quite large but shy birds that grow to a mature length of 600-650 mm and live in pairs in large permanent territories of 800 - 1000 hectares, an area 10 times larger than the whole of the Ralph Illidge Sanctuary. Their diet consists mainly of small to medium tree-living mammals such as Ringtail Possums and Sugar Gliders, which it snatches from the branches as it swoops through the forest in the dark of night. It is interesting to note that each owl needs to eat the equivalent of a large possum every two-three days to survive.
Click hear to view fauna survey.