A Powerful Discovery At Centennial Park

By Daniel Hutton on May 14, 2014 in News

Whenever my father comes up to Sydney to visit, there is one thing he is always keen to do: go birdwatching. He is as obsessed with watching birds as my brother is with surfing waves. A walk in Centennial Park or around Malabar Headland is always a top priority for the old man, and both venues usually throw up a good assortment of different species.

When Dad came to the big smoke last month to catch up with a nephew from the mother country and witness the baptism of my first born, he was quick to drag me along to Centennial Park, excited at recent sightings of a Spangled Drongo and a flock of Plumed Whistling Ducks.

As it turned out, we found neither of these species, but after following the cacophony of alarm calls emanating from concerned Noisy Miners, Pee-wees and Pied Currawongs, we stumbled across something far more exciting, a Powerful Owl (never-before-seen in Centennial Park), roosting in a large liquidambar tree.

After observing the beast of a bird (the biggest of the Australian owls) for close to half an hour we decided to let Parklands staff know of our find and word quickly spread. Within days it was up on the popular bird blog Birdline and soon after the Daily Telegraph covered it, calling it the ‘killer owl’ after hearing reports of possum and bat heads being stumbled upon by flabbergasted park patrons. I was even called for live comment by ABC and 2UE radio stations.

If you’re interested in birds this a species well-worth ticking off your list. While I won’t divulge the exact location of the bird, if you ask the right people at Centennial Park they’ll probably point you in the right direction.