Papuan Frogmouth
About 10 years ago I saw a Tawny Frogmouth at the Bronx Zoo. I thought it was one of the coolest birds I had ever seen. When we decided to go to Australia, I had my heart set on seeing one of the Frogmouth species that lives there. While we were in Port Douglas near the Daintree Rainforest in Northern Queensland, we took a night tour of the rainforest. The tour was awesome and I'll post more about that later. On the downside, we didn't see a Frogmouth or any other nocturnal bird.
When we left Port Douglas, we drove through the mountains back to the city of Cairns. By sheer miracle, we passed by the Kingfisher Bird Lodge and I pulled in. What a cool place! It was very much like the birding lodges I've stayed at in Costa Rica. I met one of the owners and we chatted a bit. He said I could bird there for $5 and that he also knew a spot where a Papuan Frogmouth roosted! He walked Beth and me to the spot pointing out a few other birds to us. Lo and behold, there was the Papuan Frogmouth perched high in a tree. Here's a blurry pic. What an awesome bird!
6 comments:
Too cool!
One of the most delightful presents I've ever received was a set of "adoption papers" for the Tawny Frogmouths in the Baltimore Zoo, from my dear friends (and birding buddies when we lived in central NJ) Katy and Steve.
Congratulations to you and Beth from Alison and me!
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So I'm basically going to be green with envy every day until you finish your Australia posts. Well, there's worse things to be...
And I just saw the frogmouths at the Bronx Zoo this past Saturday-they are cool!
Rick, that is a tremendous gift! How come I always get mugs with birds on them?
Corey, I'm glad to know they're still kicking at the zoo! I wonder if they breed them there. I recall they were also feeding the bee eaters there with slingshots when I visited.
Hi Patrick, the frogmouths do have to be some of the coolest birds around. You are such a lucky guy running into that opportunity as you did. I do believe though that luck is nothing more than wanting something badly enough that eventually you will be in the right place at the right time. Great birding!
Frogmouths are cool!
If you need to complete the series I think you will need Sri Lanka Frogmouth.
I saw my tawny frogmaouth at an exhibit at the Gladys Porter Zoo in Brownsville.
It was a dark exhibit with bats and other nocturnal animals. As I walked past the frogmouth he yawned or stretched and opened his mouth. That was an amazing sight. Glad you are sharing.
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