Frogmouth - update 2

I first posted photos of the Tawny Frogmouths in the nest on October 27. I posted a second photo of them on November 9. They have certainly grown bigger since then! When I looked up at the nest this time one of the juveniles was sitting up in front of the adult. I went to the other side of the nest and there was another juvenile lying down along a branch by the adult. However, when I went to get in the car and leave there were two little heads peering at me over the branch. I don't know if baby number one had joined baby number two or if there are maybe three up there. They looked just as curious about me as I was about them.

Frogmouth - update

Here is another photo of the Tawny Frogmouth that is nesting in a tree at my friends' place. I still can't see how many young ones are in the nest as they jostle so much that there is only one head clearly seen at a time. The adult sitting on the nest is pushed almost out of the nest and onto the branch. The previous photos were taken on the 27th of last month and these ones on the 7th of this month so the young ones have certainly grown since that time. Another few days and I will try again and hopefully this time find out how many young ones are up in that nest. I love the wide-awake eyes of the young one. I can just imagine the parent telling the baby that children should be asleep right now!

Tawny Frogmouth

Sarah phoned me last night to say that she and Graham had seen a Tawny Frogmouth sitting on a nest in one of the big Gums next to their house. The previous photos I have taken of Frogmouths have been in another friend's yard on the other end of town so I was interested to see where this other pair was nesting. The nest was high in the tree and when I first saw it and took a photo the bird was standing high on the nest. I walked around the tree and as I walked the bird sank down low over the nest and just moved its head to watch me. It was not until I got home and put the photos up on the computer that I realized I could see a tiny baby bird just under the parent in the first photo. I can see another patch of very white feathers under the bird and it may be another young one. What a great start to my morning! I have left these photos quite large when you click on them.

Tawny Frogmouth

A friend phoned me the other day to say that the Tawny Frogmouths (Podargus strigoides) had nested right outside her house again. The young ones fledged and then the parents took them out of the tree where they had nested and around the back of the house into more bushy grevillea trees. This lady has no pets and the birds obviously feel quite safe in her yard. When I went around to get some photos they were at about head height and were quite used to her going quietly to have a closer look at them. The young ones opened their eyes wide and looked at us but the parent looked out of half closed eyes and then closed them right up again and took no further notice of us. These birds are nocturnal so they are usually very hard to see.
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Tawny Frogmouths

I heard yesterday afternoon from a friend that she has had a pair of Tawny Frogmouths (Podargus strigoides) nesting in her yard. She told me that the young had fledged and were about to fly so if I wanted photos I should get over there quickly.

This lady retained most of the trees on her house block when she had the house built. She was urged to get rid of the trees growing there as they were not great looking specimens. However, she knows a lot about native species and by insisting that they stay she has also kept many of the bird species which used the trees.

The Tawny Frogmouths nest in the same tree every year. This year they raised two young and one had teetered out on a branch and then flown to a near-by tree by last night. This morning it was still in the same tree with one of the parents while the second young one was still on the nest. I did not see the second adult. None of the birds seemed worried by my presence. They blinked sleepily at me a few times – and the adult turned its head to one side.

Adult with young bird

Second young bird still on the nest