Two Frogmouths in Bowral Pine Tree

My friends Bernie and Dorothy have previously sent me a photo of two Frogmouths roosting in a small pine tree in their backyard, in Bowral.

Several days ago, the birds were back, and Bernie rang me to let me know. As they are nocturnal birds, I knew they would stay put until I drove there, and got a photo.

When I arrived, one bird was clearly visible, and it was looking straight at me. You can clearly see how wide the mouth (beak) is.
Seconds later, it "assumed the position" which they use to pretend to be a stump or broken branch in a tree.
You can see the little tuft of feathers in front of the beak. which forms an integral part of their camouflage. as the "freeze" into the "dead stick" pose, those few feathers help break down the solid outline, and blur the appearance of the bird.

In a close-up of a freshly dead "road kill", you can see how these feathers are in fact a very specialised group of feathers - simple tufty feathers, not at all the normal "barbed" body feathers. There is nothing accidental about this little tuft of feathers. Looking back at the photo above, note how prominent these few small feathers are.
This is generally what one sees of Frogmouths in a tree - two lumps.
Thanks to Bernie for ringing me to let me know about these fascinating birds.

A Tree Frog and two Frogmouths in a tree

Several days ago I was lucky enough to be with two friends, in their backyard vegie garden in Burrawang. Suddenly there was a bit of a squeal, as a Frog had been found hiding amongst the leaves of a Cabbage which had just been picked.

Naturally I rushed to take a look, and found it was a delightful specimen of Lesueur's Tree Frog, Litoria lesueuri.The Frog was very agile, and it leapt out of my hand on to the gravel path, at which point it was beautifully camouflaged.
Apparently this Tree Frog is relatively common in this region, but I have not seen it before. You can go to that linked website and listen to the sound of its call.

I am grateful to Susan for taking these images, and sending them to me.

This specimen was small, and quite pale coloured. From the website, it is apparent that some individuals are much larger, and darker in colour.

*****

Yesterday Bernie rang me to say that they had found a pair of Frogmouths roosting in a pine tree in their backyard, in suburban Bowral. Here you can see their typical stance, looking like a couple of broken off tree branches. Photo courtesy of Dorothy Baker.

Here is one of my favourite images, a close-up of a very freshly killed Frogmouth (a road kill) which my brother found near Nowra. You can see the huge beak (from which it gets its name) and the beautifully fine markings, and the hairy feathers above the beak, which help give it its camouflaged look. (You can see these tufts of hairy feathers - sticking out above the beaks of both birds - in the photograph which Dorothy took on her camera).The eye is partly open, in much the way that they use to look at any humans who might be stalking them, when in a tree. The feathers around the eye help keep the strong horizontal lines which help it stay safely disguised, when pretending to be a tree branch.

Big mouth - Frogmouth

I am in the process of re-building the back of the house. This is a huge task, and I will not bore you with the details. My brother is doing most of the work, but it serves to explain why I have been off the air for a few days.

However, Brendan arrived on Monday with a fresh road-killed Frogmouth which he picked up south from Nowra. He knew I would be interested. Personally, I think he has a magnetic attraction for Frogmouths, for I have previously shown photos of his neighbour's Frogmouth - a lost "fledgling".

The Tawny Frogmouth (Podargus strigoides) (the NSW and Victorian forms at least) tend to be silvery grey, with prominent spots on the wings and finely marked plumage on the body, which aids its main defence, which is camouflage (pretending to be part of a tree).

The wings are long, relative to the length of the bird,

which indicates it is a strong, efficient flier, 

even if it spends a large proportion of its time sitting in a tree (by day), 

or on a fence post (by night) 

listening for insects crawling around in the leaf litter.

The feathers are very soft, which aids in silent flight.

Here is is as seen from above, rear.

Now you can see how the Frogmouth earns its living, and its name.

This very wide beak, which for some reason has a pale yellow gape

allows the Frogmouth to capture small prey, mostly insects 

and occasionally small  rodents.

The beak is very wide, but quite powerful.

Good for crunching its prey.

I used assume that because the beak is so wide, that it caught insects on the wing (as does a Swallow or a Swift, or even a Grey Fantail)

but apparently they actually perch on low vantage points and pounce on their prey.

From the side view, one can see also, the fine feathers
which help to camouflage the lines of the head.

*****

The Frogmouth's feet are relatively weak.

This birds toes serve to allow it to perch on a branch - not much more than that.

By contrast, Owls have formidable talons for gripping live prey.

Compare this image below, with these Powerful Owl claws.

Those are the most formidable talons I have ever seen.

Frogmouth - Rescue update, and an unusual Goanna report.

Tonight I received advice from my brother on the South Coast that there are plans for a family re-union of the rescued baby Tawny Frogmouth about which I reported just over a month ago.
The bird was handed over to WIRES, and the feeling was that it would be released after a few days. Apparently not. In fact they have held on to it until now, building up the bird's strength, to at least to give it some chance of looking after itself.

I got this update report from Brendan, this afternoon.

• "(our Frogmouth neighbour) got a phone call from WIRES this afternoon to say that they intended to release our photographed Frogmouth back where they found it this evening, just after dark. The WIRES lady came out to have a look around; Pat told her that the three birds we had been watching had not been around for about a week but Mrs. WIRES looked up and found two birds - Pat thinks one parent and one young. Neither she nor I could find the third bird, but that means stuff all with Frogmouths of course.

"The Neighbour tells me that she had assumed from a casual comment (that they only hold Frogmouths for a couple of days) that they had released the bird. Instead they have been feeding it young mice (pinkies) at great expense to WIRES.

"By way of reminder I found two eggs and I was pretty positive that I saw two young birds in the nest. And of course while WIRES had one of the young birds the second young bird was in evidence here.

"Hopefully tonight there will be a happy family reunion."

I am not sure how the bird will adjust from being fed baby mice to catching its own food, but I do know that the WIRES people are pretty resourceful and successful in planning rehabilitation of sick or injured animals. Hopefully the reunion is taking place as I write this report.

******************

On a very different subject, my Orchid colleague Alan Stephenson came across a very unusual colour-form of a Goanna (Lace Monitor - Varanus varius) while out looking for Orchids in the Shoalhaven Valley. He wondered if I would like to publish the photo.

Alan wrote: "I had it identified by a chap who should know and he said it is Varanus varius. However, it is a specific colour morph referred to as the Bell's form. This form is most common in the Pilliga and he found one on the south-west slopes in 2001 but has never seen this form in the Shoalhaven, so according to him the record is an important "first" and he will make a note of this in his journal.

Regards

Alan"

Lace Monitor - "Bells Form"
found in the Shoalhaven Valley of NSW.
It is normally only found in inland NSW and Queensland.

What a striking looking animal.

This is my own photo of a standard colour form of the Lace Monitor (Goanna). There is a yellow chin, but the rest of the body is uniformly speckled "salt and papper colours"

Here is a "head shot" of a standard colour form of Goanna.

I shall report the details of Alan's find to the National Parks and Wildlife Office in Fitzroy Falls, which is part of the group which manages the various National Parks in the Shoalhaven Valley.

Frogmouths at Dalmeny (South Coast NSW)

My brother Brendan lives amongst the Spotted Gum and Stringybark Eucalypt trees at Dalmeny, near Narooma, on the far South Coast of NSW.

Recently he found a nest of the Tawny Frogmouth (Podargus strigioides).

These interesting birds are nocturnal, but they are not Owls. They are insectivorous, with very large wide beaks, suitable for catching insects on the wing. They have weak feet (unlike Owls which pounce on their prey with their large claws). They are famous for their camouflage technique of blending in with the look of a short branch, in Eucalypt trees.

Several days ago, this bird arrived beside his 80 year old neighbour's window.

A rescue plan was initiated, of course.
The youngster was moved into a tree fork.
Here is it, sitting there, but looking unimpressed.
This is a cracker of a shot.

Brendan told me, in a later email that he stuck the bird up a tree were it stayed for the day and apparently till between midnight and three a.m.. It was calling periodically, but there was no evidence that it was being fed.

The next morning his neighbour went out and turned on some sprinklers - and the bird fluttered out from some low shubs. It had been at ground level and was not being looked after.

It seems that there were originally two young. The one that was photographed appears to have been the runt of the litter. He guessed that the parents moved on with the other young one.

There were then a couple of phone calls to WIRES, into a cardboard box and in to the local vet. He is expecting to get a report back on the bird either late this afternoon or tomorrow morning.

So, let us hope that the WIRES people have some success with this youngster.