Hi from Cairns, where we've lived about 10 years. I'm interested in wildlife generally & usually can identify species by asking locals if it is not immediately obvious, but I'm stumped by a call at night, which is not a curlew or owl.
The call is a persistent 'toc, toc, toc, toc, toc ..........toc, toc' then repeated in irregular sequences.
I asked locals, thinking at first it might be a frog, although the most recent call moved too far too fast for that to be the case. One lady said her father called it a 'hammer bird', but was unable to identify it further.
Any ideas?
Is it the Large-Tailed Nightjar?
That's it! Many thanks. I checked out the owlet-nightjar, but it didn't sound like what I heard, whereas this is spot on. Interesting that this bird is mainly tagged in Singapore & India.
Impressive bit of detective work from you there Tim.
I couldn't help having a google so that I could listen to what a Large-Tailed Nightjar sounds like.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-urA3oVemKU
Samford Valley Qld.
Yes it's very impressive going on google and looking up "Hammer Bird" isn't it? Haha!
My main mistake was being too precise - I googled 'Hammer bird Cairns' & got no hits!