Tawny Frogmouth!

One blessing about living in Australia is the benefit of living in close proximity to natural wildlife.  When the boys arrived home from school today they shouted in excitement, "We found a tawny frogmouth!"  My favorite bird is the tawny frogmouth, followed very closely by the kookaburra.  Tawny's have very expressive faces and have an amazing defense behaviour that imitates a tree branch (very convincing!).  They also can be quite tame and allow you to pet them as they flash their bright yellow eyes.  The boys led Laura and me down the street and showed us a juvenile bird.

When we first approached the bird, he acted like he didn't see us.  But when we came nearer, he opened his eyes and showed us his very large, red mouth.  He almost looked like a fuzzy bird version of a triceratops when he puffed himself up!

Many people in Australia volunteer to look after injured native wildlife and lost birds like this one.  If you find one of these birds and it's making hungry croaking noises, raw mince (ground meat) is a good thing to feed them. 

After dinner we saw some people congregating around the bird and a man was holding it.  The boys ran over to investigate and discovered the man is a volunteer who looks after lost or injured animals.  With the bird resting comfortably in capable hands, the story has a happy ending.

What a treasure life is!  Thank God for all the beautiful wonders He has created and allows us to enjoy - sometimes right outside your door!