Question on Tawny Frogmouths

[Martin Butterfield via Canberrabirds <>]

During the 8 years I followed the family at our Carwoola property I don't recall the chicks (usually 2) ever calling during the day.  They were usually sat in a row between the parents so no real need to communicate.  They wouldn't have been hungry anyway as I suspect the parents had no trouble finding food for them in those years with an acre of mown lawn, lots of frogs around a dam nearby and many big moths to be caught on the windows of our house.

During the post fledging period when the adults were teaching them the territory, but I suspect the chicks still depended on the adults for food, there were a few occasions after dark when the chicks vocalised in a number of strange ways.  I can't remember the details but it was loud enough to be heard in the house and sustained enough for me to track down the calling bird.  I thought it was begging for food: possibly at the stage I call Indolent Young.

Martin Butterfield

http://franmart.blogspot.com.au/

https://mallacootaweatherwildlife.blogspot.com/

On Sun, 15 Jan 2023 at 20:04, Stuart Rae via Canberrabirds <> wrote:

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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