"Come and have a look at this" said my neighbour. A new family has moved into the neighbourhood - a family of Tawny Frogmouths sitting on a low branch of a eucalypt, directly above a footpath. Of course we generated a bit of interest by standing in the street with binoculars and cameras - we met a new neighbour, talked to the postie who stopped to see what we were looking at and showed the birds to a couple of young girls out for a scooter ride with their dad.
There aren't any trees with hollows nearby because it's a relatively new suburb so it's a mystery where this pair nested and why they decided to spend the day in this tree. It will be interesting to see if they're still there tomorrow.
3 comments:
Hi Boobook
These guys rely upon their camouflage for protection. They do not nest in hollows, but make a flimsy platform of twigs as a nest (in a tree).
So flimsy it is a wonder any survive, but they seem to.
The closely related Nightjars are even more at risk, as they nest on the ground.
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Nice family group.
Cheers
Denis
Well, blow me down! I can't believe I never knew that.
Hi Boobook
My brother has been involved in an attempted "WIRES rescue" of a fledgling Frogmouth
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The outcome is not yet resolved.
But he did send me this message:
"I noticed from your blog that someone else had another nest under observation. For the record these two birds were in the nest for 57 days after hatching and even then a couple of days extra would helped our friend take to the wing better."
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That is a very ling time spent in the nest. No wonder they need such good camouflage.
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