Citizen science helping powerful owls to persist in South East Queensland suburbs
Around dusk or in the early morning hours is when you are most likely to hear the Powerful Owl's distinctive call. For several years, citizen scientists across South East Queensland listened out for the slow but penetrating double-note whoo-hoo, a soft but strong, resonant call, as part of the Powerful Owl Project.
The Powerful Owl Project, delivered by Birdlife Australia with Queensland Government support, aimed to inspire and educate the community about these vulnerable owls and their habitat needs.
Powerful Owl Project coordinator Andrew Dinwoodie explained the three-year project trained citizen scientists to conduct surveys, find owls and track their breeding success.
“To help powerful owls to persist in our suburbs, we must understand where they live, their abundance and why they are found in some areas and not others,” Mr Dinwoodie said.
“The best way to gather as much data as possible was to reach out to birdwatchers and community members.
“Thankfully, the owl is such an impressive species that people were enthusiastic about getting involved in its conservation.”
The Powerful Owl Project ran workshops in South East Queensland communities close to potential powerful owl territories, engaging with volunteers and training them how to survey correctly, safely and ethically.
Over 3 breeding seasons between March and November, 676 volunteers conducted more than 3,000 surveys across more than 80 powerful owl nesting sites. As well as looking and listening, they deployed acoustic monitoring equipment supplied by Birdlife Australia.
Mr Dinwoodie was responsible for overseeing the accuracy and quality of the information gathered by volunteers. Callan Alexander developed software that helped the project team rapidly analyse the data collected by the acoustic monitors.
“We now have a database of the habitat areas used by the powerful owl for feeding and their nesting sites,” Mr Dinwoodie said.
“Large hollow-bearing trees are the most critical habitat feature for powerful owl populations to survive in our suburbs.
“We also now have a species distribution model and information about what constitutes a good powerful owl habitat. The model can predict the likely presence of powerful owls in areas subject to disturbance through urban expansion or other impacts.”
COVID-19 restrictions and, in 2022, heavy rainfall interrupted workshops and fieldwork. Despite these challenges, some volunteers continued to collect and submit data. The project also had unexpected benefits.
One unquantifiable benefit was the contribution to physical and mental health by getting out into nature, particularly following the restrictions of the pandemic.
As awareness about the powerful owl and its predicament increased, community members started to advocate for owl habitat conservation and the removal of anticoagulant rodenticides (rat bait) from shelves.
Two teachers at Tamborine Mountain College used the Powerful Owl Project to deliver part of the Year 5 curriculum. Mr Dinwoodie presented a series of talks on subjects ranging from defining citizen scientists to using acoustic monitoring and AI to collect and analyse data. Each student could deploy a monitoring device in their yard or nearby. The school repeated the program in 2023.
The Powerful Owl Project team hopes to build on this work. Community members can contact BirdLife Australia to volunteer for future projects.