Animal Diaries Archive

Tawny Frogmouths

21 February 2007

Welcome to another week in Australia Zoo’s beautiful bird department. This week we are going to have a bit of a look at our two beautiful Tawny Frogmouths.
Let me start by pointing out a common mistake by a lot of people and saying that these guys are not owls. They share similar traits and hunting styles and are even nocturnal like owls but they belong to a specific group of birds called nightjars.
Frogmouth owls are found right across Australia in forest’s, scrub and even your own back yard so keep your eyes open.
These guys are extremely well adapted to night time hunting using their wide and slightly hooked beak for catching moths, crickets, small mammals and birds as well as small reptiles. They will also take advantage of perching near street lights to catch any moths and insects that are attracted to the light.
When a frogmouth feels threatened they strike a pose and this makes them almost impossible to see. They will raise their beaks into the sky and become very rigid resembling a broken tree branch until the danger has passed. On occasion it has taken a number of keepers to help locate one of our Tawny’s in it’s own enclosure.
The next time you visit Australia Zoo try and see if you can find our Tawny’s, You might have to look very carefully.

That’s it for another week in Birds at Australia Zoo and until next time keep your eyes open for Tawny’s.