Tawny Frogmouth chicks:

vulnerable when fledging

Tawny Frogmouth chicks are now fledging in Canberra, and unfortunately there have been some heavy and prolonged rainstorms at the same time. This has caused some chicks to be grounded when they fly between trees and if they stay there, they can be vulnerable to predators such as cats and foxes - both introduced pest species. Every year, people find such grounded fledgling frogmouths and are tempted to take them home to save them. After all, they are the most Instagrammable bird in the world, with their fluffiness, big forward facing eyes and apparent sad mouth-line. See the scientific paper below that describes the relevant study:

Thommes, K. & Havn-Leichsenring, G. (2021). What Instagram can teach us about bird photography and color preferences. i-Perception, 12: 20416695211003585.

This chick was low to the ground, on a fallen branch, but its sibling had disappeared. It probably died during the heavy rain in the previous night after grounding in the tall grass and weeds that are growing all through the woods this year due to the rain. The birds cannot climb up out of tall wet grass and can quickly succumb to exposure. 

It is difficult for me to walk through the tall grass and weeds. It must be deadly for frogmouth fledglings. And I have seen this happen before.

Nevertheless, please do not pick these birds up and take them home. They are not pets. The best thing to do is place them on a nearby branch, up off the ground, as high as possible and walk away quietly, without drawing attention of any predatory birds that might be watching, such as ravens or currawongs. The chick's parents will be watching them, like the adult pair in the background of this picture.

And the chicks have a very good threat display, if they are attacked. Although even that pose makes them very Instagrammable. 

Colour-banded Tawny Frogmouth has chicks

Double Pink, she has a pink band on each leg, sits quietly on a branch all day while her mate looks after the chick.

She is a mum - Double Pink, the colour-banded Tawny Frogmouth, which I reported on previously as a bird rescued by the RSPCA and successfully re-established in the wild and paired with a mate, now has chicks. She and her partner lost their first clutch of eggs, probably to a brush-tailed possum, then they quickly found another nest site and she laid another clutch of eggs. Although it looks like she only laid one egg in the second nest, as I can only see one chick in the nest below dad. It is he who sits on the eggs and young all day, while she hides close by in another tree. The chick is about two weeks old now from what can be seen of  it - a small fluffy white ball of down. Hopefully they will succeed in rearing this one. I'll post any more news as it comes in.

A white downy chick sits quietly and snugly under its dad, Double Pink's mate