it's a family!

[miriam_e]

Gosh, they are a family! Mum & Dad and 2 kids (the other parent is not in these pics). How the hell the parents have managed to bring up a couple of chicks here is amazing! There are so many kookaburras and butcher birds here it would have been nerve racking for a bird parent. On the upside though the ground is crawling with food (lovely little skinks, moths, etc.). I've read up on frogmouths and they don't feed on the wing like nightjars do; they feed on the ground. They resemble nightjars, but also resemble owls... it seems they are not either, though probably close relatives to the nightjars.

The name: frogmouth -- they have an incredibly wide mouth rather like a frog's. I've watched these guys yawn and it is amazing. It looks impossible. More and more these critters look like something designed by Jim Henson. These pictures don't show it but the chicks are very, very cute. I can see why the parents love 'em.