Night Calling - WA Tree Festival Event

Part of the 2025 WA Tree Festival

How Yornitj, the Masked Owl, inspired Australia’s first owl friendly community.

As a ten year old, Boyd Wykes was thrilled to find an injured Tawny Frogmouth on his way home from school. Learning how to look after the bird sparked a passion for night birds that would stay with him throughout his life as an ornithologist.

Now in retirement, a chance sighting of a rare Masked Owl near his home in Margaret River turned Boyd’s passion into an obsession. In partnership with his bird photographer mate Steve Castan and a dedicated band of “Mowl” enthusiasts, they diligently tracked down several mating pairs and their nests, gathering invaluable scientific information along the way.

But the excitement soon turned to tragedy when a number of their precious Masked Owls were found dead on the side of the road. They were shocked to discover that common rat baits were at the heart of the problem. And Australia has some of the weakest protections in the western world.

And so began the Owl Friendly education campaign to ban the sale of “one dose kills” rodenticides. And if that meant creating safe havens, one community at a time, then so be it.

Following on from the documentary screening there will be question time with Anne Bondin from Birdlife Australia.

TUESDAY

15 April 2025

2.00pm-3.00pm