welcome to owl friendly margaret river region
Owl Friendly Margaret River Region is a volunteer project to tackle an insidious problem – poisoning of nocturnal birdlife and other fauna by rodenticides. We can’t do it without your help.
Choosing wildlife-friendly methods of controlling rats and mice is an important way that you can make our region a safe haven.
The country that the Owl Friendly program works in and for encompasses the traditional lands of the Wadandi people. Our campaign to raise appreciation of and protection for our nocturnal wildlife contributes to a broader imperative that our community learn from and work with our region’s Traditional Owners to restore a human harmony with country – a harmony that was maintained for tens of thousands of years before colonial appropriation. We are working closely with the Undalup Association to achieve an ‘Owl Friendly’ region. Owls are especially important to the Wadandi, as indeed for all human cultures. The Masked Owl, our ‘ambassador’ species for Owl Friendly Margaret River, is Yornitj in the Dworden language of the Wadandi People.
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Masked Owl Photo Steve Castan
Our nocturnal birds
The Margaret River Region in Western Australia is a biodiversity hotspot with an amazing array of endemic wildlife including the secretive South West Masked Owl.
Our wildlife is under threat.
Some of the most common rat baits (rodenticides) are attractive and lethal not only to their intended target but to our pets and to wildlife such as Quenda and Possums. Birds of prey and nocturnal wildlife, especially Owls, are weakened and killed through ‘secondary poisoning’ from their baited prey.
The Masked Owl has inspired our campaign to make the region a safe haven from rodenticide poisoning. Three years of obsessive nocturnal detective work by local enthusiasts has revealed a mosaic of Masked Owl territories across our landscape. Through Facebook, our Masked Owl families have developed a dedicated following as their stories have unfolded.
Masked Owl Photo Steve Castan
Our nocturnal birds
The Margaret River Region in Western Australia is a biodiversity hotspot with an amazing array of endemic wildlife including the secretive South West Masked Owl.
Our wildlife is under threat.
Some of the most common rat baits (rodenticides) are attractive and lethal not only to their intended target but to our pets and to wildlife such as Quenda and Possums. Birds of prey and nocturnal wildlife, especially Owls, are weakened and killed through ‘secondary poisoning’ from their baited prey.
The Masked Owl has inspired our campaign to make the region a safe haven from rodenticide poisoning. Three years of obsessive nocturnal detective work by local enthusiasts has revealed a mosaic of Masked Owl territories across our landscape. Through Facebook, our Masked Owl families have developed a dedicated following as their stories have unfolded.
Masked Owl Photo Steve Castan
Our nocturnal birds
The Margaret River Region in Western Australia is a biodiversity hotspot with an amazing array of endemic wildlife including the secretive South West Masked Owl.
Our wildlife is under threat.
Some of the most common rat baits (rodenticides) are attractive and lethal not only to their intended target but to our pets and to wildlife such as Quenda and Possums. Birds of prey and nocturnal wildlife, especially Owls, are weakened and killed through ‘secondary poisoning’ from their baited prey.
The Masked Owl has inspired our campaign to make the region a safe haven from rodenticide poisoning. Three years of obsessive nocturnal detective work by local enthusiasts has revealed a mosaic of Masked Owl territories across our landscape. Through Facebook, our Masked Owl families have developed a dedicated following as their stories have unfolded.
Nature’s pest controller Photo Steve Castan
All of the ‘Linking Landscape’ films can be viewed at: https://vimeo.com/channels/gondwanalink
Rodent control
Protect our owl populations and other native wildlife
- make the right choice when controlling rats and mice.
Owl Friendly featured in the new WA Boola Bardip Museum
Featured in the Wild Life Gallery at the splendid new Boola Bardip (many stories) WA Museum is an action-packed, punchy short film about Owl Friendly Margaret River – the citizen science discovery of peri-urban Masked Owl population and the campaign to protect these and other wildlife from rodenticide poisoning. A big thank-you to the Gondwanalink team for including us in a series of series of inspirational stories about community-led conservation across Gondwanalink.
Photo Dr Rob Davis