Aerial athletes and unsung hunters by night, tawny frogmouths are more than just their Muppet looks | Debbie Lustig

Watching one nocturnal family through all of spring, I experienced the exhilarating thrills of their nightly routine – and learned the call of the frogmouths

What’s not to love about a Muppet in a long coat with spooky eyes like something out of a Scooby Doo cartoon? Posing as tree stumps on a branch, tawny frogmouths almost parody themselves.

But there’s much more to them than that. Frogmouths have another life that few people see: like vampires, they wake at sunset and night-hunt until dawn. These stolid creatures turn into zephyrs that silently swoop, catching prey on the ground and in the air.

Last spring, I followed a breeding pair in my local park and saw what happens in the night: the unsung glory of frogmouth life.

Frogmouths breed from August to December and that’s the best season for watching them fly. They’re constantly on the wing, bringing food to their offspring.