Question on Tawny Frogmouths

[Stuart Rae via Canberrabirds <>]

Hi Neal,

Young frogmouths mostly call when begging for food. This is a hoarse coughing sound and it can be persistent. So if that is what you are hearing that will be the reason. Other calls are soft, contact type, or anxious alarm calls. However, young frogmouths rarely call, and I have never heard them beg for food during the day.

If the chick hatched in early December, it would have left the nest in early January. They are in the nest for approximately a month. They then stay with their parents for at least another month, by when they reach full size and full feathering. Some families are beginning to split up now, and most will do so before the end of summer.

The adults might be having difficulty finding enough food this year because there is so much tall grass and weeds covering the ground. They cannot land on ground covered with such vegetation to catch food. Most of their food is collected from open ground covered with leaf and bark litter. 

Without further information on the individual case, I cannot add much more, but I trust this helps with your query.

Stuart

On Sun, 15 Jan 2023 at 14:28, Neal Hardy <> wrote:

Hi

 

Could I ask if anyone knows why young Tawny Frogmouths vocalise during the day?

 

We have a surviving young bird with its parents, and the young one is markedly restless, and increasingly vocal. It probably hatched early December, and had its first flight I think on 18 December.

 

Neal

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Stuart Rae

 

 

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