One-legged sooty owls

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Don't worry. These birds have two legs but they've drawn one each up into their feathers When we visited Peel Zoo in Western Australia on our recent house-boat trip, I took photos of many of the birds on display. These are greater sooty owls (Tyto tenebricosa) and their names are Gru and Bellatrix. They have white spots on the head and wings and range from 37 to 43 cm in length. The male is slightly smaller and a bit darker than the female. The eyes are large and dark and set in a large facial disk which varies from a dark silver-grey to sooty black depending on age. There is a heavy black edge to the disk. They have a short tail and they have feathered legs. The talons are large and strong. Sooty owls are not native to WA but normally found in deep gullies in moist forests. They eat tree-dwelling marsupials but also birds, bats and insects. They are territorial and the female rarely leaves the nest once she lays her one or two eggs. The young remain dependent on the parents for food for quite some time after hatching.