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Tawny Frogmouth

Tawny Frogmouth (Image ID 39433)
Photographed byJim Schultz on Tue 25th Feb, 2020 and uploaded on Tue 3rd Mar, 2020 .
Resolution709x1050
Viewed358
ID39433
CommentTawny Frogmouth. Podargus strigoides ssp. brachypterus
Australia has 3 subspecies of the Tawny Frogmouth. The bird depicted is the Western Australian one, P. s. brachypterus, which is found across the southern part of the state and northwards to the Great Sandy Desert. This subspecies is also found inlands across to the western parts of the Eastern States. Adults are all grey but females have a rufous throat area, as is the case here. This particular bird conveniently lifted up her throat and froze in perfect camouflage, as a pelican flew over the roosting tree. The rufous throat area is evident, and consequently she is an adult female. Prior to this event, she was just quietly sitting up against the tree trunk watching me with half open, sleepy eyes. The frogmouth is carnivorous, nocturnal and owl-like, but it does not have the forward facing eyes of the owls; it has a surprisingly wide gape. A pair mates for life, is very territorial and will stay in the same area permanently. Woodman Point; GPS. Status (2016): Least Concern
EquipmentPlease note: In this version of 03.03.20 I have cloned away a disturbing twig running out and up from just behind the bird’s head.
Olympus OM-D E-M1X camera body with Olympus 300mm f4 IS Pro ED M.Zuiko lens; Velbon Neo Carmagne Carbon Tripod with Manfrotto Ball Head Art 498RC2.
Camera settings: Exposure Program/Shooting Mode: ‘Manual’; shutter speed 1/500 sec, f4.5 & ISO-400. Metering Mode: ‘CenterWeightedAverage’; Focus Mode: ‘Continous-AF’ with the AF-system further set to ‘AF-Target Mode’ and a target group of 9 sensors (3x3). Drive: ‘Sequential shooting (1frame)’ in ‘Continuous Low’. Maximum burst rate habitually set to 12 to prevent filling up the buffer for which reason also I shoot only in RAW. Image Stabilizer routinely left on (S-SIS AUTO); In-Camera Sharpness +2. (These settings are also the combination I favour for birds in flight; it took a lot of experimentation with the OM-D E-M1X/300 mm F4 lens combo to find a merger of settings suitable for this challenging discipline.)
Olympus Workspace for metadata; FastStone for viewing & sorting; Adobe Photoshop Camera Raw/CC 2020 for post-processing; Topaz Pro plug-in Studio 2 for sharpening and noise control. ‘Australian Bird Guide 2019’ for identification, supplementary data and colour checks.
LocationWoodman Point; GPS, Western Australia
Keywordsfemale, adult, behaviour/display
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