As night falls the Tawny Frogmouth sets off to fly home. I imagine this pair are hunting for food for their chicks. Along the way other night animals, many with their own young, look up from below or from their own nest - cockatoo, koala, emu, echidna, wallaby, numbat, and pygmy possum. You can almost feel the swoosh of their wings when they finally reach their home and land on the branch with their three fluffy babies.
Very, very occasionally a tawny frogmouth has landed on my verandah rail. These wonderful, camouflaged birds sit so still and of course they arrive in the evening with the darkness making it even harder to see them. The tawny frogmouth looks like an owl but it is not an owl.
The scientific name of the Tawny Frogmouth is Podargus strigoides. "The genus name, Podargus, is from the Greek work for gout. Why? Unlike owls they don't have curved talons on their feet; in fact, their feet are small, and they’re said to walk like a gout-ridden man! Their species name, strigoides, means owl-like."
"More closely related to the nightjar than the owl, the tawny frogmouth is mottled grey, white, black, and rufous, allowing them to easily become camouflaged with the bark of a tree. Like owls, their feathers are soft which helps them fly silently through the air, but they lack the strong, curved talons that owls are renown for."
Further reading
I wonder why Walker Books Australia didn't format this book for inclusion in their wonderful Nature Storybook series or if this wasn't the choice of the author then perhaps they could have added a fact page at the back of the book. While I have heard of and seen the tawny frogmouth I did not know very much about them. There are also lots of Australian animals mentioned in this book many of which could be unfamiliar to an internation audience. Do we have native quail in Australia?
When you reach the final page of Night Watch please grab a copy of Owl Babies by Martin Waddell illustrated by Patrick Benson. I know I said a Tawny Frogmouth is not an owl but the final scene with the parents and babies sitting on a branch strongly resembles the scene when the mother returns in Owl Babies.
If you are using this book with a group of older students it might be interesting to discuss the way Jodi Toering adds capital letters to her text.
"Dusk whispers softly, soothing Day to slumber as the last of Sunset's flames smoulder slowly skyward. Tawny Frogmouth wakens."
Moon is a character with a female gender. Also talk about expressive phrases such as liquid moonlight; blanketing the earth; drenched in silver starlight; stretching infinite; and rushing crystal clear.
Try to find this splendid book by Narelle Oliver to read alongside Night Watch:
I own a few art pieces by Australian children's book illustrators but I would love to add a piece by Tannya Harricks. I have greatly admired her work ever since I saw this book:
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