Sunday 29 August 2010

Early nests

A male frogmouth sits tight on his nest, with unusually little cover above him, on a wild wet and windy day.

It has been quite a wet winter in Canberra this year and in response, several tawny frogmouths have began nesting early. Some laid eggs on the 12th August, three weeks earlier than recorded in previous years. However, in the past week or so there have been some very wet and windy days, with snow lying in the nearby hills, and heavy snowfall in the Snowy Mtns, where I have just had a great day out on the snowboard.

Other birds which had built nests did not lay, and they have been sitting nearby, probably waiting for warmer weather to return before laying. I expect things to pick up again this week as there is warmer settled weather coming in.

A female frogmouth sits in a more sheltered spot in the lee of a tree stem while her mate sits on the nest above.

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