Powerful owl

About

The powerful owl is Australia's largest owl, an apex forest predator of south-eastern Australia that feeds mostly on tree-dwelling possums and gliders. Though secure globally, it's listed as vulnerable in New South Wales and Victoria because it depends on large, hollow-bearing old-growth trees for nesting, which logging and land clearing keep removing.

How to spot it

A big owl, 45-65cm long with a wingspan over a metre, dark grey-brown above with bold white V-shaped barring below and a hawk-like long-tailed silhouette in flight. Listen at dusk for the male's slow, far-carrying double hoot ('whoo-hooo'); by day it roosts quietly in tall forest trees, sometimes with the remains of a possum cached on a branch below.

Found in

• Royal National Park
• Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park
• Blue Mountains National Park
• Barrington Tops National Park
• Border Ranges National Park
• Dorrigo National Park
• Lamington National Park
• Springbrook National Park
• Great Otway National Park