Being a mother to three hungry babies is not easy, which is probably why the mother of this Frogmouth brood tried to catch a cane toad. Now this was a really bad choice, as the mother Frogmouth discovered. She was found sitting on the ground in the early morning hours with a cane toad in her mouth, poisoned.

The family who had been watching the frogmouth family in their tree were horrified by their discovery. Mother Frogmouth could not fly up to the nest, so the rescuer courageously climbed the tree to bring the whole family to Eagles Nest.

While the mother slowly recovers from her introduction to cane toads, Eagles Nest are now surrogate parents to the three always hungry chicks. At least these babies will mature more quickly than our species: about 25 days after hatching, the chicks are ready to leave the nest and lead their own lives.

Although the Frogmouth is often thought to be a species of owl, they are in fact related to nightjars. Tawny Frogmouths prefer to live in open eucalyptus woodland and hunt at night for mice, cicadas, beetles, frogs and other small prey and spend the day roosting on a dead log or tree branch close to the tree trunk. Their camouflage is excellent - staying very still and upright, they look just like part of the branch so you could look straight at them and still not realize you are looking at one of Australia’s native birds.