Geoffrey and Eva often used to see and hear these in a big old puriri tree in their Awanui Drive property but unfortunately they are rare now.
New Zealand’s native owl is known as the Guardian of the Forest, but this nocturnal bird is also common in urban settings where there are lots of large trees as in parts of Waikanae.
By day it roosts high up in the fork or hollow of trees, coming alive at night to silently swoop down on its prey. It’s an excellent predator due to its huge yellow-green eyes that give it clear night vision and its head that can swivel 270°. It also has acute hearing.
Brodificoum, commonly used in all reserves to kill rabbits , rats and mice also kills more pork owls and other birds of prey through secondary poison !
NZ = Poisoned nation 😓
Eva says: Yes, the manager of the Parkwood Property business next to us was using Pindone in his property and killed a lot of wildlife.
Morepork suffer many losses from secondary poisoning after 1080 drops and there’s plenty of 1080 poisoning happening.