Was just reading a book and was fascinated to learn that Tawnies aren't owls, they're, well, frogmouths as the name suggests. I guess you can't assume anything...
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i knew that Amateur but that doesn't leave me any the wiser - what the heck is a frogmouth
:)
I am no expert on the subject but perhaps it has something to do with the movement of the eyes. I am pretty sure that owls cannot move their eyes in their sockets and therefore need to rotate their entire head to look around. This and the fact that the owl has poor eyesight and uses its facial feathers as a type of "radar dish" to focus sound vibrations.
Maybe research weather the frogmouth can rotate its eyes and whether or not it relies on sight or sound to locate prey. Also take into account the "radar dish" aspect of the owl head in comparison to the frogmouth and indeed the nightjar.
As I said I am only speculating as I don't have my books with me. But every hypothisis is valid until it can be expanded upon with more information :)
They're supposedly more closely related to kookaburras than owls as well.
Oxalis is not my friend
I thought they are actually a member of the nightjar family.
I think(!) I also read somewhere that unlike owls they hunt for their food and grab it with their beak and not with their talons.
Andy is right - they are related to night-jars rather than owls.
thanks Holly
i was always told that a tawny frogmouth was not an owl but no one ever said what it was until now :)
:)
Hi everyone,we used to have a Tawny Frogmouth hunting from our roof for a long time. It hunts and flies much like Owls.The call sounds a lot like one of those big frogs, or like the Bronze Wings,something like a deep bonkbonk.It wasn't shy, we could get quite close to it,but one day it sat on our doorstep, and wasn't to well.It had a big lump under it's belly.We assumed it was what you call"eggbound".But unfortunately it was some cancer,and it had to be put down.Sadly since then we haven't heard or seen one .
M-L