13/11/2025
These two nestling tawny frogmouths had had their nest blown out of its tree in a bad storm and were found on the ground quite far apart from each other in a backyard.
I made up a replacement nest for them from a hanging basket then headed there to try to help them out.
When I arrived, the residents of the property had gently put the babies together under the tree the nest had fallen from and popped a washing basket over them to keep them safe. As I walked into the yard, the mother tawny was on the ground next to the washing basket checking on her chicks, but then flew up into the tree to keep an eye on what was going on below. Although they are nocturnal birds, due to the stress of the situation with their chicks in danger, the parents were awake and watchful, swooping between two trees ignoring the protests from the local noisy miners and magpies who weren't used to seeing these birds flying around in the daylight.
Using a ladder I placed the makeshift nest up into the tree then went and watched from a distance to ensure that the parents found their babies and were accepting of the nest I had built.
As I watched the mother flew back down to the spot where her babies had been and had a good look around for them, then flew into another tree. She hadn't realised yet that they were in the basket.
After nearly an hour of watching and with day turning to dusk the babies started to get restless and no doubt hungry making small sounds that finally caught the attention of their mother. With one swoop she landed above the nest then hopped down to her little ones whose necks were stretching skyward with mouths open. I left the family to their reunion. Next morning I checked in with the residents who let me know babies were being kept warm by their parents in the nest and all seemed well.
