Something You Don't See Often, Even If You're Looking At It.

As the title suggests this may well be a rare sighting. In the following image there are two birds;



If you can't see them I've made it pretty easy for you, they are in the center of the image.

Closer inspection reveals;



I'm not 100% certain, but I think these are Marbled Frogmouths. Marbled Frogmouths are rare and as far as I can tell endangered. If there is an expert out there that can identify for sure I'd certainly like to know.

Frog mouths are an excellent camouflage bird and these two are displaying their camouflage pose, insomuch as they try to look like branches. This is why many people never actually see them even if they're looking straight at them.

Anyway, just thought some of you may like to see this, so yeah there you go.

Kind Regards
Myselfaswell

P.S. I really hope they're Marbled, please say they're marbled, go on please just let them be marbled.

originally posted by: myselfaswell
If there is an expert out there that can identify for sure I'd certainly like to know.

Sennd a email to these people, they should be able to help/
www.birdlife.org.au...

a reply to: myselfaswell

Wow great photo, they really blend in. Let's see if we can get TNMockingbird here, she will know.

a reply to: myselfaswell

stunningly beautiful

a reply to: myselfaswell You just made my evening! I couldn't find them and then after looking at the close up, I realized I had looked right at them like three times! They are quite lovely and have such a nice expression on their faces... thank you for this!

Wow, the little fellows are masters of camouflage, aren't they?
I would probably have never known there was such a thing.. so thanks.

I'm pretty sure those are just plain old Tawny Frogmouths.
Marbled tend to have more distinctive markings. ...though the patterning is certainly that marbled type, so... hmm. Who knows.

Still pretty birds, either way. Amazing camouflage.

Usually if you really want to tell the difference between the two birds it's the eyes that give them away.
Marbled Frogmouths have particularly orange eyes - Tawny frogmouths have yellow eyes.

Other than that, the markings are distinctive too - Marbled having blotchy patches, tawny being streaked... and the Marbled tend to have longer tails.

What a marvelous capture!! You must be in Australia. I'd never heard of them before but I'm a long time bird watcher and from looking them up I'd say you're right unless there is some other bird in your locale which is a very close match.

Please send the photo to a bird club or society!

Those are really cool. Never seen or heard of them before.

s&f

Oops! I found this and it looks like a different bird than yours. I saw the added replies to your thread after I posted.

Link

a reply to: hellobruce

Done.

Thanks for that.
Myselfaswell

This is a conspiracy! They are actually wood carvings! We've been duped!

Just kidding. But they could pass for wood carvings. I mean, if you were a really good wood carver.

a reply to: Quantum12

Thanks, yeah identification would be excellent. I've sent an e-mail as hellobruce suggested.

a reply to: 0hlord

Yeah they are pretty cool.

a reply to: peppycat

They certainly are not the easiest thing to spot even if you get close.

Kind Regards
Myselfaswell

They're cool I've never seen them before, I'd walk right past them and never knew it.

Thanks for sharing.

love that....great picture, man.....
more of this, please......

a reply to: myselfaswell

Oh, nice!!! Did you spot them after taking the pic, or before?? I'd be checking with local bird experts, in your place, to see what they say. Whatever the variety, they really do blend in well.

I really love birds. Have a pic someplace, or had - might have gone in a HD crash - with some trees, in which I noticed several birds after looking at it at home. Different sorts, just didn't notice them at the time.

a reply to: LadyGreenEyes

They've been around for a while and I knew they were there. Initially I thought they were just Tawny Frogmouths, but now I reckon they may very well be Marbled.

As for identification, well if I was a hard core foaming at the mouth greenie, I'd have netted them, glued on a bloody great GPS tracking thingy and prized it's eyes open for absolute identification. Fortunately I'm not one of them. I have however sent the photos to the outfit suggested by hellobruce.

Kind Regards
Myselfaswell

Gorgeous! Tawny frogmouths? front feathers look the same.

You must have a good camera, how many pixels is that photo? Pity people who spot thylacines or UFOs can't get such clear photos.

a reply to: Cinrad

It's a Canon PowerShot SX720HS. 20.3 mp. Handy little thing that fits in a pocket easily.

Kind Regards
Myselfaswell