SOUTH-EAST Queensland residents can become citizen scientists to help monitor powerful owls.
The monitoring program is being run by BirdLife Southern Queensland.
A similar initiative in Sydney has proven to be one of BirdLife’s best programs for raising environmental awareness and engaging people.
BirdLife project officer Rob Clemens said the powerful owl was listed as vulnerable in Queensland but had increasingly been observed in urban areas over the past few decades.
“The long-term conservation of this species will require management actions within urban environments,” Mr Clemens said.
Anyone willing to help with monitoring in south-east Queensland will be trained on which is required, safety issues and ethics.
Powerful owls are large robust owls that are frequently confused with other nocturnal birds, particularly the tawny frogmouth.
Mr Clemens said monitors would listen for the owls at night and following up by visiting owl territories during the day.
“We will co-ordinate the effort so that we spread the load among the owls,” he said.
“We don’t broadcast the location of the owls too widely.
“Some pairs don’t get disturbed too easily but some don’t breed successfully if there is a lot of activity around the nest.”
Mr Clemens said information would be used to make recommendations on what can be done to ensure successful breeding of owls in urban areas.
The powerful owl program in Sydney was launched in 2011 and raised awareness with an estimated one million people in NSW.
It reached more than 2500 people at talks and about 400 citizen science volunteers were recruited.
For more information or to express your interest in taking part, email brisbane.owls@gmail.com.
