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Sooty Owl
Tyto tenebricosa
Conservation Status
Vulnerable species in New South Wales (Threatened Species Conservation Act).
What does it look like?
It is a medium-sized (33-43 cm in length) dark owl with prominent, heavily rimmed facial disc having a rounded heart shape. It is dark sooty grey with large black eyes in a grey face, fine white spotting on the upperparts and breast, and fine grey barring on the pale belly and legs. The feet are large and powerful, with fully feathered legs down to the toes. (from Scientific Committee Determination – NSW Office of Environment & Heritage)
Where does it live?
They are distributed in the South east of mainland Australia, from south eastern Queensland to central Victoria, where suitable habitat occurs. Most records in Sydney are from the Royal National Park. However, the most significant area for Sooty Owls in the Sydney region is on the central coast. Their restricted habitat exists there of tall, moist eucalypt forest and rainforest, with gullies and valley slopes. It appears to prefer forests with tall emergent trees such as eucalypts, figs or turpentine and a tall dense understorey of trees and shrubs, such as lilly pilly, coachwood, brush box, blackwood, black sassafras, pittosporum and tree ferns. Most of the foraging activity occurs within this habitat, although the owls will venture into more open adjacent habitat.
What does it eat?
They have a varied diet, taking a wide range of prey that occurs within their restricted habitat. Arboreal mammals form the largest proportion of the Sooty Owls diet, with ground-dwelling and scansorial mammals, birds, reptiles and insects also taken. In the Sydney Region, 56% of the diet was found to be the Common Ringtail Possum with Bush Rat, Black Rat, Greater Glider, Long-nosed Bandicoot and Sugar Glider making up the remainder. They are very opportunistic, taking any available prey weighing 2-100% of an adult owls weight from any strata level. This being different from the Powerful Owl and Masked Owl, which appear to concentrate on only a few prey types at the one site.
What is its life cycle?
Nesting usually occurs in a large lateral or vertical hollow of an old tree, but the Sooty Owl will also use caves. Selected hollows are usually near a drainage line in moist habitat, such as wet sclerophyll or rainforest. The Sooty Owl has a clutch size of one to two. Non nesting owls roost in tree hollows, dense foliage, rocky overhangs, ledges or caves.
Updated: 18 Jul 2011