This odd and wonderful bird strikes many people as something out of the Muppets -- especially youngsters, like the one at above center and in some of the other images.   It is a large relative of nightjars, active at night, feeding on insects and other small prey that it scoops up in its huge mouth.   They nest in flimsy structures built into large tree limbs, as here.   When disturbed, they freeze into an erect, stretched posture that imitates a broken branch extremely well.   Tawny frogmouths are found throughout Australia; these were photographed in the city botanical gardens in Wollongong and the adjacent University campus, in coastal New South Wales.
        In the wet tropics of northern Queensland, one can find the larger, red-eyed Papuan frogmouth.

• Canon 40D, 500 mm IS lens plus 1.4X extender (2009)