Showing posts with label females. Show all posts
Showing posts with label females. Show all posts

Tuesday 18 October 2011

Tawny Frogmouths 2011

The first of the tawny frogmouth chicks have fledged, or rather left the nest. They are dependent on their parents for another month yet, as they fly around their territory in short flutters between trees.

 A male frogmouth sits with a chick recently out of the nest - one metre away in the fork on the right.
This was on the 14th October.

 A female frogmouth watches over her mate on the nest fifty metres away in the next tree.

Two female frogmouths roost together while a male sits on chicks in a nest nearby. Who is the mother of the chicks? Is the second female tolerated because she is a daughter from  last year's nest. The birds are identified as females by the red/rufous on the their neck and epaulets. The males are more uniformly grey.