It’s recently come to the attention of the Bird Show crew that there is a wild Powerful Owl hanging out in the Zoo grounds. Powerful Owls are a vulnerable species often found in wooded areas, along the east coast of Australia, so to have one in the Sydney CBD area is amazing! This one has regularly been spotted by visitors taking part in the zoo’s overnight camping experience ‘Roar’n’Snore’. Our team was really excited to hear this, especially since we have one in the Bird Show line-up. Her name is Nangaw an Aboriginal word meaning ‘Powerful Owl’. The wild Powerful Owl was seen recently after catching her dinner for the night, a Brush-tailed Possum. Other nights it has been observed dining on fruit bats, another common favourite of this species. The biggest threat to these impressive birds is land clearing and a lack of tree hollows in the metropolitan area. There’s loads of food but hollows usually occur in old trees, trees that are disappearing at a rate faster than they are being replaced. Powerful Owls are the largest of the nine owl species we have here in Australia, and if you’re lucky enough, you might very well be able to see one in your own backyard! The best thing we can do to help them out is being wise in our shopping choices, deciding to choose sustainable goods, with minimal packaging reducing demand on trees.