In anticipation of my Aussie Adventure I wanted to do an individual species spread about some of the iconic Australian birds that can be found in the urban environs in the Emerald City: Sydney, Australia.

One reason that Sydney’s moniker is the Emerald City is because of its many green parks, over 400, in fact. It’s in these many parks such as the Royal Botanic Gardens and Centennial Park, that these birds can be found.

Some of the birds of Australia seem to come out of the realm of fantasy and fiction like some creature that was designed on an artist’s drafting board, that can only be found in the pages of a book not perched in that tree in Centennial Park.

The bird that tops this list has to be the tawny frogmouth (Podargus strigoides). The scientific name roughly translates to gouty (swollen) owl-like bird.

The frogmouth however, is not closely related to owls but related to oilbirds, potoos, and nightjars nor are they suffering from gout.

I have previous seen potoos in Central and South America. And they certainly seemed out of this world.

Looking at images of the tawny frogmouth reminds me of a Muppet, perhaps of the Fraggle Rock epoch.

I added this observation to the left side of my spread with a cross section of a gum tree with a puppeteer inside, who bears an uncanny resemblance to Jim Henson.

I’ll admit, I let my mind run free and my artistic license has yet to expire!