Tawny Frogmouth

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The first complete overview of one of Australia's most intriguing birds. The strange tawny frogmouth is often thought to be a species of owl, but it is, in fact, related to nightjars. A true master of disguise, the tawny frogmouth can sit a few metres from you and still not be spotted. So well camouflaged is this night hunter that it roosts in the open during the day, passing easily for a dead tree stump. At night it feeds on rats, mice, cicadas, beetles, frogs and other small prey. Owls fly around at night hunting food, but tawny frogmouths generally remain sitting very still on a low perch, and wait for food to come to them. They catch their prey with their beaks rather than with their talons, another way in which they are different from owls.

The tawny frogmouth is both intriguing and endearing to people fortunate enough to see one or have a pair nesting in their backyard. It is widespread throughout the continent and at home in all the densely populated human centres, especially throughout eastern and southern Australia.

This book draws on the limited amount of published research, as well as the author's 10 years of personal observations in the field.