birding-aus

Papuan Frogmouth....Laughter Call!

To: <>
Subject: Papuan Frogmouth....Laughter Call!
From: "Del Richards" <>
Date: Thu, 16 Sep 2004 18:50:27 +1000
Earlier in September while camping by Sweetwater Lake in Lakefield NP a female Papuan Frogmouth was stationed on a daytime roost in nearby paperbarks. We were able to observe and listen to this bird during our stay of four nights She was able to hunt sufficient food items in an area of about fifty metres square.
    Through the first night we heard the familiar slow "oom, oom" calls that we are used to hearing further south in the Wet Tropics. Shortly before daybreak she emitted a brief call of about seven notes that although they had no change in pitch, sounded like brief laughter.
    Graham Pizzey mentioned it in his field guide as "hoo,hoo,hoo" whereas in this case the individual notes were much flatter, however this difference may be regional.
    On the last morning the frogmouth in question responded with "her" call to the first call of a nearby Blue-winged Kookaburra at 0600 hours and when the kookaburras called again at 0800 hours we heard her call again!
    A curious reaction when the frogmouth should be deep in slumber!
Del. Richards, Fine Feather Tours, Mossman, NQ.
    www.finefeathertours.com.au
<Prev in Thread] Current Thread [Next in Thread>
  • Papuan Frogmouth....Laughter Call!, Del Richards <=
Admin

The University of NSW School of Computer and Engineering takes no responsibility for the contents of this archive. It is purely a compilation of material sent by many people to the birding-aus mailing list. It has not been checked for accuracy nor its content verified in any way. If you wish to get material removed from the archive or have other queries about the archive e-mail Andrew Taylor at this address: andrewt@cse.unsw.EDU.AU