Tawny Frogmouth Resting

[Rick Petrie]

Captured this guy 'owling on the back fence after a hard days night.

[astroron]

Nice Rick, Strange for the bird being so exposed.:shrug:
Cheers:thumbsup:

[MikeyB]

Frogmouths are pretty much convinced that their camouflage - colouration, feather texture and posture - renders them invisible, which it often does in a tree. Not so much on a fence, though!

[astroron]

My point exactly :)
Cheers:thumbsup:

[steve000]

I thought this as well but we see them often at mums place. I think if they know the area and feel safe in it they don't mind relaxing a little. I once had one fly into my bathroom, scared the hell out of my wife when she walked in there, it just sat there looking at her. Its funny even with 5 cats the wildlife at mums doesnt really care about anything.

[originaltrilogy]

I had one land near my feet on our veranda one time, and it sat there contemplating me for about 20 minutes!

A vet I spoke to said they often suffer from mild poisoning in rural areas and will sometimes sit like that if they are ill.

[Rick Petrie]

Thanks all
Petr, I thought that before I took the photo that the owl was sick and went to investigate.
He/she just sat there for about 20 minutes posing for me, and when I put the camera away and came back, gonski.

[jjjnettie]

I guess they'd get poisoned eating poisoned rats and mice. :(
Great photo. :)
The do tend to perch rather low. :)

[Poita]

No, mostly it is from overuse of insecticides. They eat insects mostly and will only rarely eat rodents if insect food isn't available.

It is really common unfortunately, we use alternative methods of insect control as much as possible for just this reason.

My daughter loves the Tawnys, and used to read all about them even as a very young child. We went to the gold coast one time to a bird sanctuary when she was five, and they called for a volunteer to help feed a Tawny.

She was chosen but destroyed the guy's pre-prepared spiel when he asked her what type of bird it was.
She answered 'A tawny frogmouth' and he got halfway through his reply that "no, it is not an owl, but a Tawny... oh, you just said that..."

It threw him off for the rest of his presentation.

[Larryp]

Nice shot, Rick!

[Inmykombi]

Lovely photo Rick.
I often hear them outside at night, so they are around in good numbers it seems.

[gary]

Great detail Rick.

I spotted one here the other night whilst out for a walk but as others have
commented, it certainly is not common to see one out in the open like that.

What amazing looking creatures they are.