Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2025L00287:reg:3:p141
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:F2025L00287
Segment Type: reg
Provision Reference: reg 3 (pt 141/276)
Character Range: 548350–551220

hectares while the average size for owls outside of the park was 128 hectares. Territory sizes during winter are similar to those in spring, though one owl tracked during winter, and displaying behaviour suggestive of searching for a mate, ranged over an area of 389 hectares. Because owls occupy small territories in the national park, the population density is much higher there; owls are distributed more sparsely across the rest of the island (Sperring et al. 2021b).
Whilst Norfolk Island moreporks have previously been heard on Phillip Island, they are not currently known to occupy the island (M Wilson 2024. pers comm 12 January). All recent breeding has taken place in Norfolk Island National Park (Sperring 2021a,b).
The distribution is shown in Map 19.
Map 19 Range movements of the Norfolk Island morepork on Norfolk Island
Source: Sperring et al. 2021.

Ecology
Breeds September to January. Clutch size can be up to three eggs, but two eggs per clutch is more common.
Nests in tree hollows. All nests of the hybrid population have been in artificial nest boxes, although breeding is suspected to have occurred in natural hollows.
Feed primarily on insects, in particular orthopterans and coleopterans, as well as rodents, passerines (including the Norfolk Island robin and slender billed white-eye) and white terns (Olsen 1996; Sperring et al. 2001b).

Habitat
Norfolk Island moreporks prefer native woody vegetation, red guava (Psidium cattleyanum) or Eucalyptus plantation to open land and other woody weeds. They also prefer canopy height above 10 m (Sperring, unpublished data), mostly roosting high in the canopy. They are most commonly found in native trees (particularly ironwood and bloodwood) but have also been seen roosting in guava, olive and banana plantations.

Threats
The decline of the Norfolk Island morepork was probably caused by a combination of unrelated environmental, demographic and genetic forces acting on a naturally small population. The main factors were likely to have been: the loss of approximately 30 individuals from the population for a natural history collection in 1913; the loss of suitable habitat and nesting hollows caused by land clearing and selective logging of large trees; and competition for hollows from introduced species such as crimson rosellas and European starlings (TSSC 2016b). Current major threats include inbreeding depression, lack of suitable nesting sites, and competition from introduced species (TSSC 2016b). Low habitat suitability across the island is also likely to reduce the carrying capacity of the island putting pressure on the population to maintain genetic diversity (Sperring et al. 2021a). Secondary poisoning from rodent and chicken baiting is also a threat (likely cause of death of two chicks in 2012 (Debus 2012) and near death of one likely poisoned adult in 2021 (Sperring et