Tawny Frogmouth Bird:

The Tawny Frogmouth, is an Australian bird which is found in the mainland of the continent, New Guinea, and Tasmania. The bird looks like an owl and is often mistaken as belonging to a subspecies of an owl. There are several colloquial names for the frogmouth, the most common being mopoke or morepork. However, these are alternate names for a sub species of an owl and therefore incorrectly used for the tawny frogmouth.

Both the male and female tawny frogmouths look alike. They are the same in length; both have yellow colored eyes and a wide beak which is covered in a small tuft of feathers. They emit a distinct clacking sounds which they make using their beaks. They are also known for making loud booming calls, which often reverberate around in the wilderness.

The tawny frogmouths, unlike owls, do not fly around hunting for prey. Instead, they sit at a very low perch and wait for food to come to them. They sit very still and catch their prey in their beaks as soon as it crosses them. They may also suddenly fall from their perch, dropping on the ground, to catch their prey.
The tawny frogmouths are nocturnal and hunt only in the night. They roost on dead trees or branches which are very close to the trunk, during the day. They are extremely clever birds and are able to camouflage themselves among their surroundings by sitting extremely still. When they are sitting still, they often look exactly like a part of the branch. The color of their feathers also allows them to pull this off.

The primary prey of the tawny frogmouth are rodents and insects. They may also feed on frogs and other smaller animals from time to time. However, unlike owls, they do not use their talons to catch their prey; they use their beaks for hunting and catching prey.

They have only one partner throughout their life and remain with that partner until either of them dies. They make a very untidy and loose platform to perch on and may make repairs from time to time to keep it from falling apart.

Though the tawny frogmouths look a lot like owls there are several behavioral differences between the two. Owl’s feet are much stronger since they use their talons for hunting. As opposed to this, the talons of the tawny frogmouths are not very strong. Owls are able to swing about their talons but the tawny frogmouths can’t do that.