This is a Tawny Frogmouth chick that fell out of its nest and ended up on the slasher the other day. Its mum did a great job and it fledged successfully, to our great relief.
The Tawny Frogmouth is fairly common and “nests” at our place every November. The nest however is virtually non-existent but they mostly use the same dubious spot each year so the eggs and chicks [1-3] live on the verge of oblivion.
We usually get a couple of families.
They have very soft, penetrating, low frequency calls which sound like a distant power house … ooom, ooom, ooom.
It’s great to lie in bed and listen to them.
They’re better than cats at cleaning up rats and mice and are absolutely ghost-like in silent flight.
The lapwings pass, mince through the grass,
The frogmouth chicks look down
And teeter on oblivion,
While mother wears a frown.
Jim Inglis
Australia
Jennifer Marohasy BSc PhD has worked in industry and government. She is currently researching a novel technique for long-range weather forecasting funded by the B. Macfie Family Foundation.
