Owls

I searched this tree from the ground for nesting birds, saw nothing
I'm not sure who got more of a surprise, her or me.
If you look closely, you can make out the tails of her chicks, When I first saw them mum was on the branch beside but by the time i got the camera out she had tucked them up under her.
Absolutely beautiful birds, and I seem to be lucky enough to see them quite frequently.





Peace

Very cool bird. Neat thing about birds on nests is that if the eggs are hatched the parents will not abandon the young if you accidentally disturb them. The down side is if there are eggs in the nest the parents are likely to abandon when disturbed. They see their eggs as much less of an investment, once they have hatched young they bond to them and will not give up.

I think your bird is a Marbled Frogmouth or something similar in the nightjar/frogmouth family. Very much like an owl and a great sighting and documentation!
-AJ

Hey Moss, that's very interesting about eggs being abandoned and not chicks
It's a Tawny Frogmouth owl
I visited the tree not long ago ( no climbing ), and was surprised to see that council had removed the limb she had her nest on.
She is still in the tree, just had to find a new limb

Excellent. I figured it wasn't a Tawny Frogmouth because it looked gray more than tawny but... lots of variations of plumage color for any species. I'd love to see one of those sometime, if I ever make it to that far end of the world
-AJ

I have Barred owls in my yard almost every night. Occasionally I will hear a Great Horned in the neighborhood. That is about it for me.