Tawny Frogmouth Babies

[Pappy]

These little guys were on our local news tonight. They are an Australian bird often mistaked for an owl.Cute little guys and are they common down under?

They are either in Seaworld or Orlando zoo, here in Florida.

 

[Falcon]

I want one.

 

[Diwundrin]

are they common down under?

They're a lot more common than people realize Pappy, because they're seldom seen. They're nocturnal and in the daytime they are masters of camouflage, you can be looking at one for a minute or two before you realize it isn't a knob on the tree bark.

There's one at least lives around here, it sits on the corner of the house watching and waiting for dinner to wriggle by. I hear it's talons scrape on the guttering when it lands, and know what it is because it flew down and took a frog from right in front of me one night. They are totally soundless in flight, just a blur and they're gone. We called them Mopokes because that's their call, very owl like but definitely Mopoooke.

This is a couple in 'shape shifter' mode, they can sleep in that 'long and skinny' shape, to look like part of the tree.

Here's a bunch of 'em. They can make themselves look all shapes and sizes, no wonder we don't notice them.
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The chicks are real cuties aren't they?