The Tawny Frogmouth or as he is commonly called "Mopoke" is a Nightjar. Seldom seen through the day as they sit motionless and blend into the surroundings of the tree. I posted a pic in the Gallery. If you look carefully the dead tree limb in the centre of the pic....Isn't....thats him
On a Summer's night you can hear him call "Mopoke...Mopoke" in the distance. They feed on insects, mice or other things they can locate. I had a friend who had two loves. His family of Mopokes the parents and two young who sat motionless in the same tree every day, and his collection of green frogs that lived near his water tank. One evening as we sat on his verandah having a beer, one of the Mopokes flew down, captured one of the frogs and we could hear its cries of protest as it was carried off into the darkness. My friend was horrified. It was a case of Mopokes 1 frogs Nil. The pic was taken in a tree at the rear of my house. He would have remained undiscovered except for being detected by the local bird population who proceeed to mob him. Unconcerned he sat there until nightfall