Since the start of spring I’ve been searching for a pair of tawny frogmouths that throughout the rest of the year I see on my daily keep-fit walk.
The frogmouths roost in a white peppermint gum in the Waterworks Reserve but come early September they vanish, only to return at summer’s end. Presumably they are off to breed somewhere close by but, even though I have searched high and low over the years, I have never discovered where.
When I set out to search, I know that it will be a tough ask to find them. There is no animal in nature that has mastered the art of disguise like the tawny frogmouth.
My latest search was disrupted this year by a lengthy holiday in Europe and, while I was away, there was important frogmouth news on the home front. On my return I discovered the lovable and curious birds had been voted Australia’s bird of the year for 2025 in the annual contest run jointly by Birdlife Australia and the Guardian Australia newspaper website.
The frogmouth had been runner-up in the two previous years and, gaining nearly 12,000 votes, it had finally cemented its status as No 1, with the Baudin’s black-cockatoo and gang-gang cockatoo close behind in second and third place.
What makes the frogmouth so special? Equal parts strange and endearing, the tawny frogmouth seems to have struck a cultural chord. With their big eyes, downturned beak and perpetually surprised faces, they’ve also become an online favourite.
Often mistaken for owls, frogmouths are actually more closely related to nightjars. They’re found across Australia, from bushland to suburban gardens, and feed on a varied diet of insects, rodents, reptiles and frogs.
Moths and other flying insects form a large part of the frogmouth diet and they can often be seen at night perched in areas where street lights are attracting flying insects.
The tawny is one of three species of frogmouth found in Australia, the other two, the marbled and the Papuan frogmouths, are found in north Queensland and Papua/New Guinea.
During the day the frogmouths blend into their surroundings by perching motionless on branches, stretching their bodies upward and closing their eyes to resemble a broken limb. Their silvery-grey plumage – the females tend to be more tawny in colour – mimics tree bark so convincingly that you can easily walk right past one without realising it’s there.
While the tawny frogmouth remains common and widespread across the country, they face growing threats from habitat clearing and poisoning from some particularly powerful brands of commonly used rodenticides, the details of which can be gleaned from the Birdlife Australia website. It’s an issue affecting many nocturnal hunters.
On my return from Europe I immediately started the frogmouth hunt again. I’m looking for an untidy platform of sticks in the fork of a tree – easier to spot than the frogmouths themselves.