Sri Lankan Frogmouth in Thattekad Bird Sanctuary

Update on “Great Driving Challenge” contest – We have made it to Top12, and now need your support to qualify for the Top 3. Pl. checkout our GDC blog and consider signing up as followers there for the period of the contest.The Sri Lankan Frogmouth is a medium sized tropical nocturnal bird related to the Nightjars.

It is so called because of its large, gaping mouth, and a broad, flattened, hooked bill. The Frogmouths rest upright and motionless on branches during the day. And because of its perfect camouflage plumage, it appears like a broken branch.While it is not a endangered species, it is only found in Southwest India and Sri Lanka. We were extremely fortunate to see and photograph three different Frogmouth pairs during our trip to the Salim Ali Bird Sanctuary in Thattekad, Kerala, India.

It was all because of our guide Eldhose, a local resident and a very knowledgeable birder that we were able to photograph these highly camouflaged birds. For an untrained eye, it would be impossible to spot these unusual looking birds.Here are a series of images from that trip. All images were taken with the D80 mounted with 300mm f2.8 lens and SB-800 flash. Post processing to the extent of curves, saturation, sharpness, resizing and red-eye correction.

Sri Lankan Frogmouth (Male) taken at 600mm focal length(300mm with 2x TC), f7.1, 1/60s, ISO400, flash fill.