![]() The plumage of an owl is exceptionally soft with softened feather edges which enable the birds to fly silently through the air so that they can approach their prey without warning. This type of prey is commonly eaten whole with indigestible bits like the bones and feathers being regurgitated in a sausage shaped pellet from the mouth.Īll owls have been designed by nature as superb hunting machines with the particular intention of operating at night. The morepork menu more usually includes moths and beetles caught on the wing as well as small animals such as mice, baby rats, lizards and birds usually no larger than themselves. While grey-faced petrel are not a normal part of a morepork diet, the small owls do occasionally eat larger animals which are torn apart with their small but razor-sharp hooked beak. But instead she glowered at us from the nearest tree with her huge yellow eyes allowing us plenty of time to examine her as she scrutinised us back. ![]() I had just launched one of the sea birds into the night sky when out of the corner of my eye I saw a small missile flying through the air and the very next moment the petrel was knocked to the ground.Īlthough the morepork was only half the size of the petrel, I think she would have tried to make a meal of the larger sea bird if we had not been standing around. However, it was only a few years ago I got a really good look at the bird, known more commonly as the morepork, which is responsible for the sound.Īt the time of our close encounter, I was helping to release grey–faced petrel back into the wild. Like most New Zealanders I am well familiar with the distinctive call of the little native owl, Ruru, which floats out of the darkness at night demanding a second serving of the Sunday roast like the ghost of a hungry child. ![]()
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