Spot the Stick

At first glance this picture doesn't appear to have a bird in frame at all, but if you look carefully you can see that the figure in the centre IS a bird - it's a Tawny Frogmouth! This remarkable bird was one of just over 40 avian species recorded at the Bioblitz, held this weekend at Elachbutting Rock in the WA Wheatbelt region, about 300km inland from Perth. This event aims to conduct a '24-hour snapshot' of a patch of native remnant vegetation, determine which plant and animal species live there, and engage local community members through trapping, birdwatching, plant identification, spotlighting and a whole range of other activities. You can read about the great fun and cool critters we found at last year's Bioblitz here.

Here's one more of the frogmouth, looking slightly more like a bird (or maybe not!). Stuart Rae, a research scientist currently studying this species in Canberra, tells me this is the male bird, who takes up incubation duties during the daytime. Even though he is very camouflaged, at least you can see his nest :)