I had a request for a Tawny Frogmouth post! I have a lot of pictures of this awesome bird from various zoo trips, so here we go!
The Tawny Frogmouth is a nocturnal bird.
They are not owls. They are more closely related to nightjars and whippoorwills.
This bird is found throughout Australia.
They get their name for their large mouth.
The Tawny Frogmouth can make itself look bigger and more intimidating by making all their feathers stand up, eyes open wide and beak open.
The Tawny Frogmouth doesn't do a lot of hunting. They sit in silence and wait for food to come to them and pounce.
They eat insects, worms, snails and slugs. They also eat frogs and small mammals.
The Tawny Frogmouth makes a low and soft oom oom oom sound. They also hiss if they feel threatened.
The Tawny Frogmouth mate for life. Males and females look alike.
They usually return to the same nest each year. Nests are usually built in or around tree forks. They make repairs to the nest each year.
Both the male and the female care for the young. They both incubate the eggs and they both feed the newly hatched chicks.
The Tawny Frogmouth is a master of camouflage. They have grey feathers, streaked with black and brown and spotted with brown and white. They spend most of their day resting in plain sight, looking just like a tree stump. Often pairs of the birds will set together with their head pointed skyward to further create the dead tree illusion.
