Local wildlife photographs, July

Tawny Frogmouths are nocturnal birds found across Australia often in open woodland. Their plumage helps camouflage them while sleeping on tree branches during the day. They keep stock still. Some years ago I was cutting a dead branch off this very Tallowwood, when Wyn said stop. Just two feet above where I was sawing was a Frogmouth. It hadn’t moved.

Their feathers are soft, like those of owls, so you can’t hear them coming. I recall us lifting a Papuan Frogmouth (with red eyes)  off the road, in Cape York. It was alive, probably in shock. There was nothing we could do in the middle of the wilds. There are three species of Frogmouth in Australia. The Marbled, north of here, has dark cheeks.