Tawny Frogmouth Fledgling
Baby Tawny Frogmouth sitting out on a limb next to it's nest the day before it fledged, in Adelaide, South Australia...
Read more
Baby Tawny Frogmouth sitting out on a limb next to it's nest the day before it fledged, in Adelaide, South Australia
Read less
Read less
Oct, 2015Views
7697
Likes
Awards
Chatter Award
Contest Finalist in Beautiful Owls Photo Contest
Contest Finalist in Textures In Animals Photo Contest
Contest Finalist in Celebrating Nature Photo Contest Vol 2
Featured
Staff Favorite
Peer Award
Top Choice
Superb Composition
Absolute Masterpiece
Magnificent Capture
All Star
Superior Skill
Outstanding Creativity
Genius
Love it
Virtuoso
Emotions
Impressed
Happy
Top Ranks
Top 30 rank week 1
Top 10 rankTop 10 rank week 1
Top 10 rankTop 10 rank week 1
Categories
Ultimate
sunshine0
December 15, 2015
Join the conversation. Add a comment or even better, a critique. Let's get better together!
sunshine0
December 15, 2015
What a unique looking owl! I don't thin I have ever see'n one like this!
emmafleetwood
December 26, 2015
The Tawny Frogmouth is an Australian native, and although it looks owl like, they are not owls - they are more closely related to nightjars. Owls are raptors with long talons, and they hunt while flying, then swoop down on their prey. Tawny frogmouths have much smaller prey than owls, (mainly insects, but sometimes small frogs, lizards or mice). Their feet are small, they use their stong beak to crush their prey, which they catch by sitting motionless (they are very well camouflaged in the trees) and waiting for their meal to come closer to them. Owls have eyes on the fornt of their head, while the frogmouths are more on the sides.
Ultimate
PRO+
PRO
Platinum
PRO+
Same photographer See allBehind The Lens
Discover more photos See all
Behind The Lens
Location
This photo was taken looking over the back fence into a reserve at my parents house in Adelaide, South Australia. The Tawny Frogmouth's had a nest in a big gum tree just over the fence, and I had been following the progress of the chicks for a few weeks, this was the first day that the baby ventured out of the nest and sat on the branch beside it. It was also the last time I saw it, as the family all left the nest that night, and they are very hard to spot in the trees. I am hoping they will return to the same nest next year.Time
This photo was taken around 10am. After I dropped my son at school, I went to visit my mum with my daughter, as it had been about a week since I had been there to check on the progress of the chick.Lighting
It was a sunny morning with blue skies. I didn't want to take the photos too much later in the day, as the sun becomes very harsh, but in this case it was filtered by the tree. I had been previously late in the afternoon, and the setting sun was directly behind their nest, and the very strong backlight made capturing the face and eyes quite difficult, whereas the morning light was much nicer.Equipment
Shot on a Nikon d750, with a Tamron 150-600mm lens, zoomed to 600mm, handheld (resting on top of the fence) but no other equipmentInspiration
I couldn't pass up the opportunity to take as many photos of possible of this little chick. These birds are very well camouflaged in the trees and are not always easy to spot, so when they nested right out the back of my parents house, (I can see it from their living room), I knew there was an opportunity for a great photo waiting there for me.Editing
This is actually a HDR image from 3 bracketed photos. The bird was sitting very still, so I was able to merge the photos without any problem. The HDR helped to darken the background and to bring out the texture of the feathers and facial features. I have cloned out a branch that was directly behind the bird, which I found a bit distracting, and added a bit of extra blur to the background. I always post process my photos to some degree, I can't recall exactly what I did on this photo. This would have had the initial minor adjustments done in lightroom, before being imported into photoshop for some further editing. I know I did a bit of dodging and burning around the face and feathers, and some adjustments to make the eyes pop more.In my camera bag
It depends where I am going and what I am shooting (as I have a varied interest in what I like to shoot). For birds and wildlife, it is always the Tamron 150-600mm. I usually handhold these shots, but if I am going to be lugging it around for a long time, I'll sometimes put it on a monopod. For landscapes I carry two Samyang lenses, the 14mm f2.8 and 24mm tilt-shift. When shooting portraits it's usually the Nikon 50mm f1.4 and sigma 105mm macro.Feedback
I was very lucky to have their nest in such a convenient location, and I had a great vantage point, as my parents back yard is built up higher than the base of the tree, so I was able to stand almost at the same level as the branch. My advice would be, that if you happen to come across a nest, go back and visit it as often as possible, as you never know when the family will move on. This chick hadn't ventured out of the nest until this day, and previously was often partly obscured by the dad sitting in the nest, so getting a clear shot of it beforehand had been a bit difficult. I was very lucky to get this photo on this day, as the next day they were gone, so a lot of it comes down to luck, and it really is a matter of being in the right place at the right time.
