Tawny Frogmouths have to be the cuddliest birds in the world! Today I came across these two huddled up together in the winter cold:

Do you find it difficult to distinguish the birds from each other and from the bark on the tree? That’s by design! Their camouflage is extraordinary. In fact, it took me ages to spot these birds. A bush walker had told me where they were, and even so it took me three trips to the park on three separate days, a second encounter with the same bush walker, and many minutes of looking before I found them.

Here’s a closer view of the Tawny Frogmouth at the top of the two-bird pile:

See the two large eyes and the upside-down smile of the beak? Tawny Frogmouths eat insects and spiders, and other small prey, which they catch in their beaks.

Around the beaks they have some rather endearing tufts of hair. People aren’t quite sure what the purpose is of the tufts. Some people think that the tufts help the birds detect insects and other prey flying around them. Other people think that the tufts keep potentially-harmful prey, like a centipede, away from the bird’s eyes and mouth until the bird has crushed it in its beak. No matter, I think the tufts make the bird look a little goofy:

Tawny Frogmouths are nightjars, though people often mistake them for owls. They’re nocturnal. During the day, they huddle together pretending to be parts of a tree.

Here’s a close view of the bird that’s lower down in the two-bird pile. In the middle, near the top of the picture, you can see one eye and the beak, and half of the bird’s body. On the left is the other bird’s body, on the right is the tree:

What a face!

Here’s a zoomed-out view of the birds in the tree. Spot them if you can!

To finish, here’s another angle on the top bird:

Common name: Tawny Frogmouth
Scientific name: Podargus strigoides
Approximate length: 34-52 cm
Date spotted: 27 June 2021 (winter)
Location: Manly Dam Park, New South Wales, Australia: 33°46’58.3″S 151°15’19.0″E

Update on 3 July: Here’s another photo of the birds on another day. They’d posed at a slightly different angle, which made it easier to capture a profile and a good view of the feather markings on one of them.