Here's the first species in my latest project "Frogmouths, Nightjars & Goatsuckers". These birds are nocturnal and rarely seen although most people know the name of at least one of the species, though might be pressed to actually describe it. Which one? The Whip-Poor-Will. These birds have exceptionally large mouths (hence the name "Frogmouth"), are distant cousins to owls and are camouflage experts. The Tawny Frogmouth is found throughout mainland Australia, Tasmania and several of the largest offshore islands. Frogmouths are found in almost any habitat type including forests and woodlands, scrub and heath-land vegetation, and savannas. However, they do not occur in heavy rain forests and treeless deserts. They eat mainly insects, arthropods, spiders, frogs, and sometimes small mammals. Prey is caught both on the ground and in the air with their large bills. One of the best examples of cryptic plumage and mimicry in Australian birds is seen in this frogmouth who perch low on tree branches during the day camouflaged as part of the tree.Their plumage patterned with white, black, and brown streaks and mottles allows them to freeze into the form of a broken tree branch and become practically invisible in broad daylight.The tawny frogmouth will often choose a broken part of a tree branch and perch upon it with its head thrust upwards at an acute angle using its very large, broad beak to emphases the resemblance. Often a pair will sit together and point their heads upwards, only breaking cover if approached closely to take flight or warn off predators. During daylight hours, healthy tawny frogmouths generally do not actively look for food though they may sit with their mouths open, snapping it shut when an insect enters. This species is listed as "Near Threatened". Tawny frogmouths face a number of threats from human activities and pets. Tawny frogmouths are often killed or injured on rural roads during feeding as they fly in front of cars when chasing insects illuminated in the beam of the headlights. Large scale land clearing of eucalyptus trees and intense bush fires are serious threats to tawny frogmouth populations as they tend not to move to other areas if their homes are destroyed. Household cats are the most significant introduced predator of the tawny frogmouth, however dogs and foxes are known to also occasionally kill the birds. When tawny frogmouths pounce to catch prey on the ground, they are slow to return to flight and vulnerable to attack from these predators. As they have adapted to live in close proximity to human populations, tawny frogmouths are at high risk of exposure to pesticides. Continued widespread use of insecticides and rodent poisons are hazardous as they remain in the system of the target animal and can be fatal to a tawny frogmouth that eats them. Rendered in Poser 2014gd without any postwork. Models include: skydome (Flink), trees (DinoRaul), and Frogmouths (Ken Gilliland)