~ Tawny Frogmouths ~

What a thrill to find a Tawny Frogmouth Owl, sitting quietly on top of the cyclone gate at Mr Lipscombe's door. The previous night's storm may have had something to do with its sudden arrival. They really are quite unique creatures and even in these unusual surroundings, it was hard to spot it as a live animal. It simply looked like a piece of wood! But once you got close and stayed for a while, either one eye or two would open a little wider, just to keep an eye on you.

We took clipboards around, sat down in front of the gate and had a sketching session, IN TOTAL SILENCE! It was hard to get that head right but Mr Lockett would be proud of these shading skills. Great job Brennan and Marcus.

The Year 6/7s and I were having a running argument about names. The best were "Bar", as that was what he was sitting on, "Shannon" for his little tuft of chin hair and "Blink" as he did this so seriously and often. We think, being a nocturnal bird, we were actually keeping him from his sleep. Then much to our excitement later in the day, a second one was spotted, perched on a corner of the pergola. It had probably been there all day without even being noticed.

One was seen briefly the next morning, but this time at Mr Harwood's door. We're hoping they will come to see the school as their home, especially if we can provide a caring, worry-free environment for them.

Sunnie  from Mrs Vivian's class wrote this brief description of the Tawny Frogmouth:

The Tawny Frogmouth lives all over Australia, including Tasmania. Its scientific name is Podargus strigoides. There are fourteen different types of Frogmouths in the world but only three are Australian. Their names are the Papuan Frogmouth and the Marbled Frogmouth. Both male and female grow up to thirty to fifty centimetres long. The Tawny Frogmouth hunts at night. They eat small mammals, frogs and nocturnal insects. Their protection is camouflage. First they find a tree the same colour as them, then they sit very still and look up so they look just like a branch. They have yellow eyes and are normally silvery grey. They breed from August to December and they have the same nest each year.

Great writing, Sunnie!