Австралияның қапталды бүркіті: сипаттамасы және қорғау мәселелері

Species of owl

The Australian masked owl (Tyto novaehollandiae) is a barn owl of Southern New Guinea and the non desert areas of Australia.

Brown feathers surround a white, heart shaped mask. Their dorsal plumage is brown, aside from light gray spots on the upper back. Their front is white with brown spots. Their eye color varies from black to dark brown. The species have sexual dimorphism, females are darker shaded and larger than males. Male masked owls' weights ranges from , while females are typically much larger ranging from Length ranges between for males and for females. Wing span is up to for southern female masked owls. Masked owls follow the typical pattern of birds from the tropics being much smaller than birds from temperate regions. In this instance, Tasmanian masked owls are the largest and the largest of the entire barn owl family. Among the species in the family, only the greater sooty owl is on average heavier than the Australian masked owl but the Tasmanian species is rather larger and heavier even than the greater sooty owl. The mean weight of the nominate subspecies was found to be in males and in females while in Tasmania, mean weighs for males were and for females were It is thought to be due to its habit of catching mice at homesteads. The breeding population in Tasmania's Takayna rainforest is under threat from a proposal by the MMG Mining Company,68% of which is owned by China's Minmetals conglomerate to dump acidic mineral waste by flooding the forest with a dam to hold its tailings. As of February 2024, the plan is awaiting ministerial approval by Australia's Environmental Minister Tanya Plibersek. The female lays two or three eggs and incubates them while the male hunts for food. The young are white or off white when they first develop feathers. They can leave the nest at two to three months of age but return to be fed by the parents for another month before going on their own.

The population of the Australian masked owl on the mainland is declining and several states have placed this owl on the Species Conservation Status list. In Victoria (Australia), the masked owl is a listed threatened bird, and an Action Statement has been prepared under the Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act 1988. In New South Wales, the masked owl is scheduled as Vulnerable under the Biodiversity Conservation Act (2016).