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Project Noah Nature School
Podargus strigoides
Spotted on Nov 21, 2007
Submitted on Mar 16, 2011
11 Comments
I like the last picture best where he is having a meal.
The best part is watching them turn into "broken branches" as you get closer. They start out all rounded like little owls, and then get longer and skinnier as you get nearer. They also close down their eyes to a tiny slit, just open enough keep an eye on you. Then they don't move AT ALL.
Steal away! I saw a photo online with mouth open and wings open - oddly shaped but adorable - My new favorite bird
They are fairly common, but as Malcolm says, hard to spot. My partner is a great bird spotter, but even she has found herself right under a tree with three of them clearly visible, and only finally noticed when we were right on top of them. We get them at our place occasionally, usually posed like a gargoyle on top of fence post. Or sometimes I can just see their eyes reflecting the light.
This one is quite common but they can be difficult to spot as they spend the day motionless and are well disguised. When we saw this one on our first day in Australia several people asked what I was photographing, when they looked they thought it was a dead branch!
There's a few of these popping up on Project Noah. Are they a pretty common sight in Australia?
Cynthia, I love your comparison with Welsh corgis so much I'm going to steal it.
The do have a dis-proportionally large heads, I posted a photo of a frog mouth here: http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/441.... Give me a bit and I'll add a photo of it with its mouth open.
I think its just one of the pictures gives that impression, I uploaded 6 pictures altogether but one isn't there and another shows twice. Strange things happen with uploading pictures from here at least.
I have never seen anything like it - I looked it up and even the birds it is related to - I have never seen. I looks almost like the Welsh Corgi of birds - oddly proportioned. Is it just the picture? the head looks way too big for the body
Actually, this one was not so little - my book says 35-45 cm, and this one was near the top end. Other Australian ones are even bigger, up to 56 cm, while I have seen a small one in Sri Lanka, only 23 cm.
This is the oddest but coolest little bird I have ever seen. Nice photo - thanks for sharing