“Thank you sooooo much, really!” That's what I told to the guard who saw me walking around in the morning, camera and 100-400L in hand; he asked me if I'd seen the frogmouth and made me discover it. Having replied “Frogmouth??? What's that?”, he accompanied me to a clump of thin trees, a few meters from where I was and stood there saying: “Here.”
Watching me looking everywhere but remaining blind, he pointed a direction which, in spite of my efforts, made me consider for a second if this nice man was not joking with me. He took me by the shoulder and guided more specifically my eyes. After a few seconds of adaptation, I found this pair of frogmouths. I had never seen or heard of this bird and two specimens were 3 m from me, in full freedom, it was startling. After a few shots, I chatted with the guard and thanked him again. He could have ignored me, I enjoyed and was touched by what he'd just done. The day began beautifully!
I only had this unique angle shot and the photos are not very good, but this time, no way to delete this! My trash can wait for long!
Description
The Tawny Frogmouth (Podargus strigoides) is an Australian species of frogmouth, a type of bird found throughout the Australian mainland, Tasmania and southern New Guinea. The Tawny Frogmouth is often mistaken to be an owl. Many Australians refer to the Tawny Frogmouth by the colloquial names of "Mopoke" or "Morepork", which usually are common alternative names for the Southern Boobook. Frogmouths are not raptorial birds.
About this posture
When a roosting Tawny Frogmouth is discovered, it usually adopts a cryptic posture which makes it resemble a broken-off branch: it perches stiffly, sleeking its plumage and orientating its tail along the branch, and narrowing its eyes to slits. In addition, its plumage […] blends in almost perfectly with its surroundings.
The two following picture are very similar. Why them posting them both?
Not speaking about the focus made on a different one for each photo, look closely to the posture: the two birds raised their neck slowly and perfectly synchronized, was interesting to observe.
Wondering about this frogmouth name?
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