One wildlife rehabilitator caught the best father-daughter moment on camera as he taught his little girl to feed a tawny frogmouth. Ashlee did a great job following her father’s instructions, even when an adorable distraction hopped by! Josh Neille cares for a variety of critters in need inside his home, so it’s not exactly surprising that another animal would interrupt this baby bird’s feeding time. Thanks to Ashlee’s focus and determination, though, the tawny frogmouth finally got to finish his meal!
Videos by InspireMore
In a sweet video on Instagram, Josh taught his little girl how to feed the orphaned bird. It’s actually a more complicated process than you’d expect! As the wildlife rehabilitator explained, the tawny frogmouth wasn’t used to people feeding him. So, in order to get the animal to swallow his food, Ashlee would have to deposit the morsel down the back of his throat using a long pair of tweezers.
Everything looked like it was going to go smoothly until the tawny frogmouth refused to open his beak. That’s when Josh realized that the baby bird was being distracted by another critter. Violet the kangaroo had wandered by, and she was watching the feeding procedure with interest. Although she didn’t mean any harm, her feathered housemate was temporarily thrown off by her presence.
“Violet is always distracting us all,” Josh wrote in his caption.
Eventually, the baby bird opened his beak, and Ashlee was able to feed him. She was so excited when the tawny frogmouth actually swallowed his food! Dad was pretty proud of his little girl, too.
“Did you see that, Violet?” he jokingly asked the kangaroo.
What on earth is a tawny frogmouth?
Tawny frogmouths get their name from their incredibly wide mouths, which vaguely resemble those of frogs. Judging from Josh’s video, you might guess that these birds are a type of owl. According to Bush Heritage Australia, this is a pretty common misconception. However, there are plenty of differences between these two species of nocturnal birds of prey. For one thing, frogmouths have tiny feet instead of big talons!
We can all agree that the tawny frogmouth in the Instagram post above is just about the cutest little guy ever. It’s wonderful to see people like Josh and his family helping to rehabilitate these beautiful birds!
You can find the source of this story’s featured image here.
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