on the powerful owl 

1947 

The Sun, 7 August 1947

Big Grey Owl Is Bathurst 'Ghost'

Mysterious screams from near an empty house on the Macquarie River, which have scared Bathurst residents probably emanate from a Powerful owl.

This theory was expressed to day by Mr. J. R. Kinghorn, Australian Museum zoologist. The Powerful Owl (Ninox strenua) is a big, grey, spotted bird, twice the size of the common owl. Mr. Kinghorn said. "It has. a weird, penetrating cry, almost frightening," he added.

"It is usually found in scrub land. The Bathurst bird is ap parently out of locality, hunting for food." Mr. Kinghorn said there was no need to go looking for the Powerful Owl with a gun. "It would be better to be armed with torches to have the privilege of seeing this rare bird. Anyway, it's protected," he said.

1947 

The Herald, 7 August 1947

Night Jar Was Owl

SYDNEY, Thursday, — Mysterious screams which have been upsetting the nerves of night workers at the Bathurst pumping station for the past fortnight are believed to have been the cries of a Powerful Owl (Ninox strenua). For a fortnight employees at the pumping station have been telling police that screams have been coming at night from an empty build ing near the station. This week two men in stead of one were on night duty at the station, and kept a loaded shotgun handy. Last night one young employee got such a fright when he heard the screams that he fell off a ladder. Mr J. R. Kinghorn, of the Australian Museum, said today the cries probably came from a Powerful Owl, a bird which had a cry that resembled a human scream, and was rather frightening. It was a rare bird and was protected.

1947

Coffs Harbour Advocate 29 August 1947

"SCREAMING GHOST"

An Owl Blamed

Somewhat disgusted at our report that a Boambee man fiad diagnosed the Bathurst "screaming ghost" mystery as a female mating fox, two local Identities came to our office on Saturday morning – at different times – to emphatically assert that the screams came from a bird, probably an owl' says Bellingen "Courier-Sun."

In this assertion they are in good company, for the Australian Museum Zoolologist, Mr. J. Kinghorn, considered the "ghost" was probably a Powerful Owl. "Its cry rises to a high pitch – it's a blood-curdling scream," he commented.

Mr. Alf Mitchell, of Kalang, said: "I have heard the screams three times in my life. The first was at Bellingen 34 years ago. With two other men I was camped on Moody's property at North Bellingen, and when, early in the night, we heard the terrible screams we thought it was a woman being murdered up to wards the cemetery. We hurried up the cemetery road and located the noise coming from a tree. We saw the outline of a large bird, and it flew away still screaming. The other two occasions I heard these screams were at Emmavllle and Tenterfield, both times at night."

Mr. H. Asbby, of Bellingen, said:

"I have only once heard the screams – on the Bogan, one night thirty years ago. My hearing was fairly good then. I was camped with an other chap younger than myself, and he became so scared he would not stay near the place, even when we found the screams came from a bird we saw it fly overhead, screaming. They were the most horible screams I've ever heard – just like a woman getting chopped up by an axe...slowly."' 

1914 

Sydney Mail 

THERE is a worldwide superstition that the owl is a bird of bad omen. Indeed, many staid old country people go so far as to call it the 'bird of death,'

and destroy it at sight. Here in Australia the aborigines hold the powerful owl, whose awful screaming is a cross between the screeching of a cockatoo and the cry of a wounded hare concentrated and intensified an hundred fold, to be an evil spirit, and many timorous inhabitants of the bush look upon all varieties with such dread that they destroy them ruthlessly...The powerful or great scrub (screaming) owl is the biggest of the variety.

It is found all over Australia, and is cordially disliked by most people, for its blood-curdling scream, heard unexpectedly at the dead of night, will make even the stoutest hearted bushman quake. This owl, which is often more than two feet from head to tail, is the biggest bird of prey in Australia, with the exception of the wedge-tailed eagle. It can carry in flight paddymelons, bandicoots, rabbits, and even native bears; and its wing spread is almost as remarkable as that of the condor. 

1927 "ALTER EGO"

Sydney Morning Herald

THE POWERFUL OWL.

Of all the birds that darkly bide, Within the forests, wild and wide,

There is never a fowl,

Has so awful a scowl, As the powerful Owl.

Of all the sounds borne on the breeze,

That raise the hair, and marrow freeze,

No other fowl,

Has a terrible howl

Like the powerful Owl.

Of all the beasts that stealthy creep,

Amongst the thickets dark and deep,

Neither fish nor fowl,

Has the fearsome prowl Of the powerful Owl.

But in spite of its scowl and its shuddering shriek

And the fierce array of its claws and beak

And its horrible howl, A stupid old fowl

Is the powerful Owl.

-ALTER EGO.

1990 Sydney Morning Herald 24.9.1990

"What's cute and fluffy but tears the heads off possums and Flying Foxes?"

Birdwatchers from as far afield as Denmark and the United States have come to Brisbane to see a pair of baby Powerful Owls whose appearance belies their not-so-sweet table manners.

Every night the three-month-old babies devour some hapless mammal or bird with gusto; they are always eaten head-first, the brains being something of a delicacy. The Powerful Owl is normally a rare and shy denizen of dense forests in remote south-eastern Australian forests.

Ornithologists were astonished when a pair of the owls set up home in one of Brisbane's most popular parks, just six kilometres from the city centre.

In each of the three years since they arrived, the owls have successfully raised young. They don't appear to give a hoot about the weekend picnickers who flock beneath their nesting tree.

Weighing up to 1,700 grams and 60 centimetres long, the Powerful Owl is one of the world's biggest nocturnal birds.

A zoological researcher with the University of Queensland, Mr Chris Pavey, has spent many a cold winter night observing the birds.

The two youngsters have voracious appetites and the family is munching its way through a kilogram of meat daily, with the parents frequently catching prey twice a night.

Mr Pavey has found that Flying Foxes, or fruit bats, comprise almost half the owls diet.

Ringtail possums make up most of the remainder, but the owls have caught and eaten 18 species of mammals and birds. The name Powerful Owl is not a misnomer - the prey items to date include a scrub turkey, a Goshawk and kookaburras.

The prey is killed almost instantly when it is grabbed from above by the birds' razor-sharp claws. Mr Pavey will present the results of his study at a meeting of the Ecological Society in Melbourne this week.

Quoted in Australasian Raptor Association News, May 1992

1936 FLEAY, David. B.Sc. 

The Argus, Saturday 27 June 1936

"FEROX," the Powerful Owl. 

Is He the "Screaming Woman" Bird?

As if aware of the unique position which he has held for the last 10 years as the only bird of its kind known in captivity. "Ferox," a fine Powerful Owl, regards his admirers with a regal, haughty mein, and a fused unwinking stare from great yellow eyes.

Representing the largest species of Australian owl and typical of one group in which the facial mask is not distinct, this large bird which is living at Parkville, Melbourne, has had a rather varied career. Perhaps he owes his wise and austere expression to five years in the impressive environment of a theological college from the study windows of which floated at times much Biblical and other discourse!

Frequently on cold frosty nights, as if inspired by what he heard. "Ferox" would lift his deep hoarse voice and call "woo-hoo" across the neighbourhood in the age-old fashion of his kind. Gradually working into his stride, his calf-like cry would attain its full volume to be followed by the flinging up of window after window as exasperated gentlemen interrupted in their studious concentration hurled forth colourful admonitions for silence. Generally by morning the roof of "Ferox's" dwelling held a miscellaneous collection of tennis balls, rubbish baskets, boots and even boxing gloves while the culprit sat in dignified state in his dark daylight retreat.

Only very occasionally to women and children who please his critical eye does "Ferox" condescend to unbend sufficiently to utter a low throaty conversational call and perhaps even slowly to wink his round yellow eyes!

Apart from his rarity as a Powerful Owl in captivity, the paramount interest in this large bird has centred in his various calls, for his species is credited with the most frightful bloodcurdling and terrifying cry or series of cries known to the Australian bush by night. No ornithologist has ever come forward and stated that he has both seen and heard a Powerful Owl uttering its unearthly and unforgettable screams. So far "Ferox" has proved of little help in settling the matter, for in 10 years of close observation only his low conversational guttural notes and the far sounding "woo-hoo" night calls have been heard. It must be recorded, however, that on several occasions the bird has appeared to be on the point of breaking away from his deliberate double syllables call by the utterance of a third excited and rather raucous note reminiscent of part of the terrifyIng cry which I have heard four or five times in the uncanny silence of night in the bush.

Opinions of Observers

It is of interest to note that several bushmen from widely separated districts who claim both to have seen and heard the "screeching woman" owl state inpendently that the breast of the large bird reminded them in its markings of a Plymouth Rock fowl. It was whitish barred and streaked with darker colour like the Powerful Owls under-surface markings.

The other owl which certain leading ornithologists consider to be the originator of the unearthly cries is the sooty species, a member of the second group of owls which shows a well defined facial mask, but the Sooty Owl, as its name implies, is coloured sombrely and its under surface is dark and plain in colour. Like the Powerful Owl this bird inhabits heavily timbered range country.

In discussing the claims of these two birds to the startling night cry it is in-teresting to refer to their respective related species. Smaller but similar cousins of the Powerful Owl are the Winking Owl the Boobook Owl and the Spotted Owl. All these birds utter as a usual call note a double-syllable cry corresponding to the "woo-hoo" of the Powerful Owl. With the Boobook Owl this is the familiar "mopoke" cry. In addition to their common calls these smaller relatives utter a variety of startling cries not often heard. For instance though the Boobook Owl is common about the city how many people have heard its startling cat-like cry of repeated "wows" or the loud trilling "hunger-call" of the adult bird. Why therefore should not the Powerful Owl be capable of startling the night silence with unearthly sounds vastly different from his customary "woo-hoo" call? In the case of the Sooty Owl I have both seen and heard its very close relatives the Masked Owl and Tasmanian Masked Owl and also the smaller Barn Owl, uttering their night cries, and in each case the harsh rasping expressionless calls were much the same, though given with more volume in the case of the larger birds.

Thus, though definite and reliable evidence is still to come, it does not appear to be likely that the Sooty Owl would be so radical as to make the night hideous with discordant moans and shrieks while its very close relatives are so limited and lacking in variety of vocal accomplishment. In habits the Powerful Owl is extremely shy, and because of its retiring ways and fondness for heavy forest regions it is not surprising that it is still a bird of mystery and little-known habits. My own observations over a number of years in the Ballan-Daylesford area, at Mount Cole, near Beaufort, at Healesville, Upper Beaconsfield, and in East Gippsland have shown that usually with the approach of dusk – particularly on still evenings – the Powerful Owl lifts its voice before leaving its daylight perch and utters a series of deep 'woo-hoo" calls. Again before dawn previous to settling down for the day the calls once more are heard over the forest from the same vicinity. In between these times the large birds range up and down gullies and far over the bush in search of rabbits possums, and phalangers. My notes indicate that it is in the night in gullies often well away from the timbered hills that the alarming cries are heard. In the dense bush near Korweinguboora, Vic. a Powerful Owl dwells in a favourite black-wood tree a mile from a eucalyptus dis-tillers hut, and this old bushman is very emphatic that the bird has been there calling regularly in his double note for more than 30 years. The theory of the bird's long residence is supported by the innumerable disgorged bones and plentiful fur of victims lying on the ground beneath the tree.

What Disturbed the Caretaker?

The distillers hut is on a creek in an open gully, and this man and his neighbours some miles farther upstream have been startled at various times by the screaming calls. In fact, they tell of a horse which bolted with its rider when the cries came from a tree directly above them. Even more startling was the experience of a city man who once took the position of caretaker of Cave Hill fern gully and waterfalls (Beaufort district Vic) and camped in a tiny tent in the gully with a dog as his only companion. At the close of his second day's residence there the summer night came warm and deathly still, and for several hours he lay reading in his bunk by the light of a candle stuck in a bottle. Abruptly, to use his own words, the air was filled with awful screeches like women being strangled each scenes ending in ghastly moaning sounds. The petrified listener trembled with fright while his dog crept beneath the bunk with his hair stiff from terror. I saw a Powerful Owl perched in the same gully several days later

"Ferox" observes the custom of his kind in calling in the dusk and dawn and occasionally in the night, but the fact that he has no mate and cannot range far and wide, and even the fact that "he" is possibly a 'lady" may be responsible for the absence of the long-awaited call. Several Powerful Owls and several Sooty Owls in captivity would be of great value in settling an interesting controversy, and the experiences of bushmen would undoubtedly be most acceptable in establishing the identity of the "screech-ing woman" bird.

1938 FLEAY, David

The Argus, 19 January 1938, page 13

ROMANCE AT SANCTUARY

Owl Has Mate at Last

For nearly 12 years Ferox, a big, powerful owl, has lived in solitary grandeur, first in Ballarat and later in various suburbs of Melbourne. Were the number of rabbits and rats he has consumed in that time gathered together they would probably fill a house.

Throughout the period of captivity of this striking-looking giant of Australian owls, frequent exploratory trips have been made to various parts of Victoria, on many a bitter night to find a mate for him. Bushmen have been offered a substantial reward for the mere discovery of a nesting tree, but none has claimed it.

Many points of Interest regarding the species remain to be investigated-particularly the utterance of the blood-curdling screams. It was felt that a pair of the birds would be of far greater scientific value than one specimen.

Interesting developments followed Ferox's recent move to the Sir Colin MacKenzie sanctuary at Healesville. Some nights after his arrival we were amazed and delighted to observe a big, powerful owl perched on a limb near his temporary aviary, while both birds were calling to each other in the usual mournful "woo hoo" notes.

All-night Vigil

A week of search by night in the reserve and the neighbouring Coranderrk reserve proved that the visiting owl had no family, though the perching spot was discovered. Ferox was placed In a smaller cage inside his aviary. A frame was hinged to the roof of the enclosure, and the first night we sat from dusk until 2.30 in the morn-ing. But the bird was suspicious of the rope attached to the supporting pole below the frame.

A new automatic arrangement of the old figure-of-four type was arranged, and two nights ago we arrived at midnight to find the fine big bird inside the aviary, staring at us balefully with great yellow eyes.

Both powerful owls are doing well, frequently uttering their mournful "woo-hoos" down by the gurgling creek at night. What pandemonium there will be when they decide to shriek!

1954 FLEAY, David

The Courier-Mail (Brisbane, Qld. : 1933 - 1954), Wednesday 31 March 1954, page 9

AUSTRALIA'S LARGEST OWL IS 2ft HIGH AND VERY SHY

For nights past a deliberate and far-carrying call note has echoed up and down our home gully at West Burleigh. It is the "woo-hoo!" of a visiting powerful owl attracted by tho regular calls from our own pair of these birds dwelling in an aviary. Not a great deal is known of this largest and shyest of Australia owls — a well-named swift-flying bird that preys upon ring-tailed possums and the dusky sliders, so commonly called "black flying squirrels." It has never been bred in captivity though we have been able to eliminate it as the reputed originator of the famous nocturnal "screaming-woman" cries. Orange-eyed and regal in bearing when discovered on rare occasions in daytime, the powerful owl stands almost two feet high. Our "visitor" has been discovered for us during daylight by busy-body butcher birds, and even put to flight from perching spots in the mangroves. 

Powerful owls have a most marked territorial sense, manifesting itself in the occupation of a home gully some miles in extent to the total exclusion of all other powerful owls. Ths ingrained sense now presents a pretty problem with our happily settled and handsome aviary owls. Normally as soon as the intruder uttered its first "woo-hoo" in forbidden territory they'd chase it beyond coo-ee. Unable to do so, their excitcment mounts to such a pitch that they adopt the ridiculous course of attacking one another.