Welcome to November friends! Last month of Spring, and ramping up of the storms and wild weather here. I hope everyone is safe and well wherever you are.
This month, your bird’s eye-view calendar features one of my favourite photos I have taken to date – two gorgeous juvenile Tawny Frogmouths. This photo eventuated out of a combination of timing, luck, and persistence.
My Mum and I were lucky enough to spot the Tawny Frogmouth parents some time prior to knowing about the chicks. The parents frequented the same areas each year so we have always kept an eye out for them. One day we spied one parent, and two newly hatched chicks up high in one of their favourite trees. We kept going back periodically to check all was well and everyone was still in the nest. Tawny Frogmouth nests are notoriously fragile and can fall apart easily, so it is not uncommon to find chicks out of the nest on the ground prematurely.
I decided I was going to document the growth of the Tawny chicks by taking whatever photos I could. I have shared some of these photos in the blog so you can see their journey.
Once the chicks were old enough to explore and then to fly it was always tricky to spot them! We had some real surprise finds as they moved about with their parents. I remember one day particularly we were lamenting that we could not find them and I turned around and there they were sitting at head height on a branch.
Another time, I was looking for them and came around a corner and there they were all together on a branch just off the ground. I bought a lottery ticket that day because I felt so lucky!!
The time I took the photo in your calendar, both tawny juveniles were wide awake near their parents, and VERY curious about what we were doing. In case you are worried whether I was disturbing them, I have a Nikon P1000 for a camera which means I have a very large zoom and can maintain my distance but still get photos that look close-up.
On another note, our product of the month is mugs! Standard mugs are 20% off in November. I even have a few Tawny Frogmouth mugs on sale 😊
Other housekeeping info: if you were hoping to do some Christmas shopping, my direct and Etsy shop orders will be closing December 15th, 2024. After that time, I will be heading to Tassie to look for birds. I desperately want to see and photograph a pink robin, so please wish me luck!
I hope you have a wonderful November and spot some Tawny Frogmouths near you. They are masters at camouflage, so keep your eyes peeled!