The Tawny Frogmouths are back - with a chick,

[DickyOZ]

Normally they are very hard to spot but until they find a proper summer roost this family is rather obvious and they get a bit of stick from smaller birds.

Mum & Dad.

Junior

Dad snoring.

[JohnRostron]

These are impressive shots. How close were you to the birds?

John

[Shadowman]

Nice captures.

[Wavelength]

A lovely family...what they eat on, you know?

[NorthernFocus]

Nice captures of a crazy looking species. Excellent nabbing the whole family. Well done.

[Geoff F]

Some potentially difficult exposures have been well photographed.

[Tringa]

Some good ones there, Richard; particularly shots 2, 4 and 5. As they are related to nightjars I can imagine they are not easy to spot. In terms of compostion they are not quite there, but as shots that show a bird in its environment they are spot on.

Dave

[Dave Humphries]

I always enjoy seeing shots of these birds Richard, they usually look so chilled - until they open their eyes

Thanks, Dave

[madcrow]

Great images, love them to bits. All amazing captures.

[DickyOZ]

These are impressive shots. How close were you to the birds?

John

Thanks John. They were only about 5-6m away. As you know Frogmouths sit perfectly still until you can practically touch them because by doing so they usually go unnoticed. A few weeks ago I was out chasing scrub wrens and leant against a tree to steady my hand when I saw something out of the corner of my eye; I turned to see a Frogmouth less than a foot from my ear. It had clearly decided I was not a threat and stayed put so I left it in peace. 90% of my 'missed shots' are of creatures that don't move until they absolutely have to; of course when they do move I've missed the moment.
Dicky.

[DickyOZ]

A lovely family...what they eat on, you know?

Mostly insects and small reptiles.