Tawny frogmouth

Podargus strigoides · The tawny frogmouth is a big-headed, owl-like nocturnal bird native to the Australian mainland and Tasmania.

Tawny frogmouth
Photo: JJ Harrison (https://www.jjharrison.com.au/), CC BY-SA 3.0
Tawny frogmouth
Photo: JJ Harrison (https://www.jjharrison.com.au/), CC BY-SA 4.0
Tawny frogmouth
Photo: Andrew Beeston from Australia, CC BY 2.0

Taxonomy

KingdomAnimalia
PhylumChordata
ClassAves
OrderPodargiformes
FamilyPodargidae
GenusPodargus
SpeciesPodargus strigoides

Where it lives

Woodland and suburbs throughout Australia and Tasmania.

Fun facts

  • Tawny frogmouths disguise themselves as broken tree branches, sitting still with their heads tilted upward to avoid detection.
  • They can triple their breathing rate to cool off in summer heat without ever opening their beaks.
  • On cold winter nights they can enter torpor, dropping their body temperature by as much as 10°C to save energy.
  • Tawny frogmouths mate for life, and a pair often keeps the same territory together for a decade or more.

Play it

The Tawny frogmouth was the creature in Birder on November 11, 2026. Can you identify tomorrow's from its photos? Every day brings a new creature to place from kingdom to genus, map and name.

Play today's creature or replay a past daily

Facts and taxonomy adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).