The Tawny Frogmouth is the most widespread of the frogmouths. It is found Australia-wide. It's Aboriginal (Kunwinjku) name is Djurrurl, meaning 'feathers on the nose.'

The general plumage of this night bird is silver-grey, slightly paler below, streaked and mottled with black and rufous. A second plumage phase also occurs, with birds being russet-red. The eye is yellow in both forms, and the wide, heavy bill is olive-grey to blackish. The body length ranges from 35 - 50 cm, with south-eastern birds being larger than birds from the north.

Its voice is resonant, low, pulsing 'oom-oom-oom-oom' - slow or rapid, difficult to locate; it cackles and makes a drumming noise, the latter when it is about to breed.

The Tawny is sedentary, occupying the same territory sometimes for years.

At night it watches from a low perch for prey from the ground. It may also sit on the road flying up to snatch insects flying past, and it is often killed in this pursuit. The bulk of the Tawny Frogmouth's diet is made up of nocturnal insects, worms, slugs and snails. Small mammals, reptiles, frogs and birds are also eaten.

With their nocturnal habit and owl-like appearance, Tawny Frogmouths are often confused with owls, but are actually more closely related to the nightjars. Their feet are weak however, and lack the curved talons of owls.

They are marvelously good at pretending to be bits of dead tree.

Breeding season is from August - December. It lays two white rounded or oval eggs in a flimsy nest which is built by both sexes in a tree fork. The parents feed each other and share incubation and brooding of white downy chicks. The young fledge in four weeks.

Habitat: forest, rainforest margins; tracks, clearings; open woodlands, timbered watercourses; malee, mulga, myall, belar scrubs, pandanus, coastal tea-tree, banksia-scrubs, alpine woodlands.

References:

Goodfellow, Denise Lawungkurr with Michael Stott, Birds of Australia's Top End, Scrubfowl Press, Parap, NT, 2001.

Pizzey, Graham and Frank Knight, The Field Guide to the Birds of Australia, Angus & Robertson, 1997.

The Tawny Frogmouth, http://www.bluemountains.net/birds/bird.asp?bird_id=96

The Australian Museum Fact Sheet on the Tawny Frogmouth, http://www.austmus.gov.au/factsheets/tawny_frogmouth.htm