Identifying masked owls with Advanced Acoustic Monitoring

This year, Sustainable Timber Tasmania made significant strides in identifying and understanding Masked Owl habitats through its innovative Acoustic Monitoring Program.

Using sophisticated machine learning technology, acoustic monitoring can identify the calls of individual bird species, including the Swift Parrot and masked owl. These insights play a vital role in informing forest planning and guiding operational decision-making.

Our research revealed masked owls use an extended form of chattering, thought to indicate occupancy and breeding activity. These calls are commonly heard during courtship between pairs and interactions between adults and their offspring.

Understanding these behaviours allows Sustainable Timber Tasmania to adapt forest practices to minimise impacts on this important species.

Expanding Our Monitoring Efforts

Sustainable Timber Tasmania has expanded its acoustic monitoring program in 2025 to focus on masked owls.

This includes:

  • deploying over 50 recorders across more than 100 sites on Permanent Timber Production Zone (PTPZ) land across Tasmania.
  • processing and reporting on over 20,000 hours of acoustic data, across;
  • 30 southern region coupes, 6 in the northwest, and starting in the northeast

The program has an operational focus, with technology applied in priority coupes to conduct pre-harvest surveys, verify observations, and better understand the species’ behaviour and habitat use.

These results are helping shape forest practices planning.

Informing Sustainable Forest Management

Expanding the program across Tasmania has provided key insights, including:

  • Whether masked owls are present within a coupe or adjacent reserves
  • How they use areas based on vocalisation type, call intensity, and frequency
  • The species’ response to forest harvesting

This information allows Sustainable Timber Tasmania to adapt planning and reduce potential impacts on masked owls.

Looking ahead, the program will focus on evaluating the effectiveness of masked owl management prescriptions.