Another wonderful edition of the MCCG quarterly newsletter is out now. Sit back relax and enjoy some time reading about what’s happening, what’s happened and how you can be a part of our fabulous local catchment group.

Here are some of the headlines in this newsletter …

Chairperson’s Report

MCCG Photography Competition

Backyard Diversity: MCCG Talk (not to be missed!!)

2024 MCCG Platypus Survey

UNSW MCCG Platypus Research

Free PlatyMonth Walks

Seeds: Hairy Birds Eye

Weeds: Yellow Bells

Remembering Jenny Hacker

Photo: Cheryl Turner platypus 2024

With much thanks and appreciation to Cathi our newsletter editor for all your efforts in putting this newsletter together, and huge thanks to all the contributors!

Be inspired by previous winners and download your entry forms from the Photo Competition page

Join in the Great Southern Bioblitz 2024: Gold Creek Dam

Sunday September 22

Reserve your spot  through Eventbrite

To register for the 2024 Platypus Survey click here

Wildlife Matters is published in: 

The annual MCCG Platypus Survey is Sunday 8th September starting 4:30AM – 9AM.  Set your alarm for this one!

Registrations essential. Use this link for registration and additional information

Will you spot one of the fascinating monotremes in our catchment?

Volunteers also needed …

Three options:
1.  General platypus spotting – see details above.

2. Team leaders – 2 required please.  This is an essential role to supporting the platypus survey leader with assisting allocated teams to locate their sites.  This requires an hour of your time prior to the survey day to view the sites with the platypus survey leader, and then leading teams to those sites on the morning of the survey.  You may also wish to have a site allocated for spotting platypus yourself as well. Please ensure you are registered for the survey, as per the link above AND also email [email protected] to volunteer as a team leader.

3. Catering helpers 2-3 people  Approx. 3 hours volunteer time on the morning of the survey and buying breakfast items the day before the event.
We are looking for volunteers to help organise breakfast for the MCCG platypus survey. It is a continental style breakfast with pre-purchase of items the previous day and setup of food outside the Cottage, Gold Creek Reservoir on the morning of the survey.  Breakfast will be served from 7:30am for volunteers.  Support will be provided re recommended items etc.

Platypus having a scratch. Platypus vary in colour but most have lighter colour underneath. Photo: Ed Frazer

Photo: Ed Frazer

CLICK! CLICK! CLICK!

Entry forms can be downloaded now on the photo competition page.

See the flyer below for all the key dates, categories and prizes!

Wildlife Matters is published in: 

The Masked Owl – an enigmatic and mysterious nocturnal bird

The photos below of a Masked Owl taken by Moggill Creek Catchment Group (MCCG) committee member Chris Bruton on his property near Gap Creek. The Masked Owl (Tyto novaehollandieae), is distinguished from its relative, the Barn Owl, by its dark-ringed facial disc markings, white spots on checkerboard-dark wings, dark spots on a pale chest, and very large, apparently oversized talons.  This was a very exciting observation, as these birds are not often seen, and very seldom as clearly and distinctively as this.  Quite by chance, another acquaintance showed me a picture of another individual of this species beside a bikeway near Jindalee Bridge a few days later.  This bird had all the same features, but with somewhat darker plumage.

The general impression of a Masked Owl is of a large dark owl with a knowing and somewhat unnerving gaze, often flying off silently and unexpectedly.  One comes away with a notion of a formidable, shadowy, and silent bird of prey.  In fact, Masked Owls are our second-largest nocturnal bird (the largest being the Powerful Owl).  They have several plumage forms, some of which are dark rufous below, with other forms being much lighter-coloured (which Chris’s bird appeared to be).

Masked Owls have a distinctive call, rather like a set of rasping, far-carrying (and even more unnerving) screams, and often are quick to fly on disturbance, usually after being seen from a distance in a spotlight beam.  Sometimes the call alerts one to their presence, but mostly they appear to be difficult to find.  Like most other owls, they have a very bright greenish eye-shine, demonstrating their powerful ability to find prey in poor light.  Their large rounded to heart-shaped facial disc acts as a “radar-dish” to concentrate sound that these animals also use to hunt by.

Their very large talons point to their primary food source: rats and other small mammals, usually taken on the ground.  In southern Australia, rabbits are often caught. For this reason, Masked Owl habitat often seems to be a combination of both well wooded open forests with tall trees, and open grassy unwooded areas of either cleared land or heath.  It is along these boundaries that these owls wait for prey, with the excellent view of the ground that is afforded in such locations.  The related and relatively abundant Barn Owl tends to be found in more open habitats, often grassy areas within farmland and croplands.

Atlas of Living Australia records suggest that this species is more often observed between September and January, and very seldom recorded in other parts of the year.  However, even in known locations, they are only irregularly observed.

An interesting and engaging account of Masked Owls in Australia can be found in “Birds of the Night: Owls, Frogmouth and Nightjars of Australia” by Dr David Hollands, published by Reed Books in 1991.  I was lucky enough to meet David, an engaging ornithologist and country doctor, who just happened to live in the same town in Victorias’ East Gippsland where I was working at the time.

Sandy Pollock

Masked Owl   Photos: Chris Bruton

Wildlife Matters is published in: 

Another fantastic newsletter is out now.  What can you expect in the Winter Newsletter?

There are awards, echidnas, gliders, koalas, weeds and orchids and much, much more.  Meet our new secretary and find out all you need to know about the MCCG photo competition.

Powerful Owl

Photo: Anne Love 2023 winner photo composition