Tawny Frogmouth, Adult and Fledgling, Victoria, Australia

(Click image to enlarge)

The tawny frogmouth (Podargus strigoides) is native to the Australian mainland and Tasmania. They can measure from 34 to 53 cm (13 to 21 in) long and weights up to 680 g (1.50 lb) have been recorded in the wild. They are carnivorous and considered to be among Australia's most effective pest-control birds. Tawny Frogmouths form partnerships for life, and once established, pairs usually stay in the same territory for a decade or more.

These are among the most unusual birds I have seen. The heavy, big-headed, and stocky birds are often mistaken for owls due to their nocturnal habits, coloring, large eyes, and specialized feathers for silent flight. During daylight hours they rest motionless and look like those in the photograph, even when they are awake, unless a jackass photographer disturbs them to get a photo with their eyes open. To make sure that I would not disturb the resting birds I remained quite far away, used a 600mm lens, and further cropped the resulting 61 MP image to a still useful 36 MP. This has the effect of enlarging the image by 1.3 times.

There were many noisy miner birds nearby the entire time I was in the area, which was probably close to two hours. Noisy miners will mob any other bird they find in their territory, killing smaller birds and forcing larger ones to leave. The noisy miners remained completely unaware of these two tawny frogmouths. If I had caused the tawny frogmouths to open their eyes and/or move their heads for a photo, the noisy miners would almost certainly have noticed them. Instead the noisy miners would retire that evening and the tawny frogmouths would begin hunting that night with their eyes wide open.

Tawny frogmouth "stumping", shown above, is a unique camouflage behavior where the bird freezes, stiffens its body, and points its head upward to mimic a broken tree stump or branch.This behavior involves flattening feathers, narrowing eyes to slits, and holding perfectly still, allowing them to blend with their habitat. Both birds in this photograph are awake with their eyes partly open, though it's difficult to determine without considerably more magnification.

The birds appear obvious through in this long telephoto lens view, but I walked past them twice that day while looking for birds without noticing their presence. Then a helpful bird watcher approached me, asking if I photographed birds, and subsequently led me to this vantage point.

Check the larger image by clicking the small image above.