May 12, 2009 03:08 by
LukeAs the days get shorter coming into winter, the Forest Gallery birds take themselves off to their cosy night perches earlier each afternoon. This means they are roosting before the usual closing time of 5pm. Birds roosting can be easily alarmed and fly blindly into the glass walls if visitors come close to them, so for the birds' safety the Forest Gallery will close at 4:30pm until July 12th. The early dusk is an opportunity for visitiors to see the nocturnal Tawny Frogmouths perching near the doorway from which keepers emerge with their evening mouse meal. There are two Tawnies- Oscar (a female) and Albert (a male) which are hard to see whilst perched asleep high in the trees during the day. They do have a preference for Silver Wattles as perching trees- a useful hint for Tawny spotters.
Oscar comes down low to wait for his dinner. Photo: Luke Simpkin Source: Museum Victoria
bdd5859b-69a7-4f54-9bcb-f46164b1e922|0|.0