content-left-bg.png
content-right-bg.png

Tawny frogmouth

WebPartZone1_1
PublishingPageContent

Podargus strigoides

Description

brush turkey

The Tawny Frogmouth (Podargus strigoides) are found throughout mainland Australia and Tasmania. Tawny frogmouths can be found living in almost any habitat except dense rainforest and barren deserts. These robust birds grow to just over 50cm tall, and are typically mottled grey, with the colouration being darker on their backs and lighter underneath.

Frogmouths are nocturnal hunters and during the day they will roost in the corner of tree branches. To avoid detection, they will close their bright yellow eyes and stretch themselves out to mimic the form of a broken branch. Frogmouths are often mistakenly thought to be related to owls or birds of prey like raptors, but in reality they belong to a group of birds called nightjars.

Adaptations

  • Very large eyes and an excellent sense of hearing, which help them find prey at night time
  • Lays clutches of 2- 3 eggs in an extremely flimsy and poorly made nest from August to November
  • When threatened, they open their beak, to flash the bright yellow lining and make loud clacking sounds.
  • The design of their feathers and wings makes them capable of almost silent flight

Feeding relationships

  • What I eat: Insects, mice and rats, lizards such as geckoes and frogs
  • What eats me: Lace Monitors, carpet snakes, other birds of prey (Juvenile Tawny frogmouths are particularly vulnerable)

Interesting facts

Two other species of frogmouth occur in Australia – the Marbled frogmouth, restricted to rainforests, and the Papuan frogmouth of Cape York Peninsula.

WebPartZone1_2
WebPartZone2_1
WebPartZone2_2
WebPartZone2_3
WebPartZone3_1
WebPartZone3_2
WebPartZone3_3
WebPartZone3_4
WebPartZone4_1
WebPartZone5_1
WebPartZone5_2
WebPartZone6_1
WebPartZone6_2
WebPartZone7_1
WebPartZone7_2
WebPartZone8_1
WebPartZone8_2
WebPartZone9_1
Last reviewed 07 May 2020
Last updated 07 May 2020