Talk:Tawny frogmouth

Camouflage and Pictures

One of the cool things about Tawny frogmouths is this camouflage and anyone who has seen one in the bush will agree but none of the images here demonstrate that. I think this article would be improved with a photo demonstrating their camouflage ability. I found an image [1] on wikimedia commons as a possible example. If any have some good photos demonstrating camouflage could they upload them? Yvori (talk) 14:02, 21 April 2008 (UTC)

Thank you for mentioning this photo. I have now added the photo to the article. Figaro (talk) 20:40, 21 April 2008 (UTC)

I have a photo that demonstrates very well the defense mode of the Tawny Frogmouth, but am not sure how to upload onto the gallery.

Homologous and Analogous Features

An explanation of the meaning of "homologous" and "analogous" does not belong on this page. See homology (biology) and analogy (biology) for that. The comparison with owls is valid, but probably belongs on frogmouth. It also needs a reference. 203.26.123.208 (talk) 05:08, 16 October 2008 (UTC)

Renamed the homologous and analagous section for greater clarity, removed a lot of the useless or irrelevant information from it and tried to rephrase things which were unclear. No refs though, because I'm lazy. Still not perfect, but it was godawful before. Lethoso (talk) 21:35, 6 January 2009 (UTC)

Wrong Link?

The link to [[Jaren]] can't be correct, can it? (It refers to a municipality in Norway...) Should it really be to the Javan Frogmouth instead? Donal Fellows (talk) 15:22, 25 February 2009 (UTC)

Is it or is it not an owl?

Should this "The Tawny Frogmouth is often thought to be an owl." read as say "The Tawny Frogmouth is often mistakenly called an owl." or - mistaken for an owl. I'm still uncertain what it is, although a subsequent section says that it is not an owl. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 124.191.113.165 (talk) 08:02, 10 January 2010 (UTC)

File:Podargus strigoides Bonorong.jpg to appear as POTD soon

Hello! This is a note to let the editors of this article know that File:Podargus strigoides Bonorong.jpg will be appearing as picture of the day on August 24, 2011. You can view and edit the POTD blurb at Template:POTD/2011-08-24. If this article needs any attention or maintenance, it would be preferable if that could be done before its appearance on the Main Page so Wikipedia doesn't look bad. :) Thanks! howcheng {chat} 20:58, 20 August 2011 (UTC)

Picture of the day

The Tawny Frogmouth (Podargus strigoides) is a nocturnal species of Australian frogmouth commonly mistaken for an owl. Males and females look similar, growing to 35–53 cm (14–21 in) long and up to 680 g (1.5 lb) in weight. The Tawny Frogmouth is almost exclusively insectivorous, feeding rarely on frogs and other small prey. It generally sits very still on a low perch and catches food with its beak.Photo: JJ Harrison

Tawny Frogmouth chicks ready to lead independent lives.

This sentence is quite ridiculous in my opinion.

"About 25 days after hatching, the chicks are ready to leave the nest and lead their own lives."

I observed a Tawny Frogmouth chick last year (and continuing into this year) from about the age of one month up to about 6 months. Only about 4 months after hatching was it ready to lead an independent life. Every night for months, the baby bird was growling to indicate that the parents must fetch food for it. At the age of 25 days, it was only ready to fall out of the nest, not even fly on its own, let alone get its own food. Apparently it is quite common that the baby birds try to fly before they are ready. Then they cannot get back into the nest, and the mother has to sit on top of it on the ground to protect it from other animals, as indicated on my own mediawiki web site.

For more than a month after the baby bird wandered out of the nest, the baby bird could not fly more than 1 metre upwards. Even when it could fly up to branches 4 metres above the ground, it took another couple of months to learn to catch its own food. If you look at my photo of 5-day-old chicks which I have added today, you will see how helpless these birds are when young. I will make photos when these two chicks are 25 days old — if they survive that long! (I am expecting that one or both of them will fall out of the nest and be eaten by the do next door, which is where the nest is.) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Alan U. Kennington (talk • contribs) 04:43, 10 October 2011 (UTC)

File:Tawny-frogmouth.jpg to appear as POTD soon

Hello! This is a note to let the editors of this article know that File:Tawny-frogmouth.jpg will be appearing as picture of the day on January 21, 2013. You can view and edit the POTD blurb at Template:POTD/2013-01-21. If this article needs any attention or maintenance, it would be preferable if that could be done before its appearance on the Main Page so Wikipedia doesn't look bad. :) Thanks! —howcheng {chat} 17:30, 18 January 2013 (UTC)

Picture of the day

The Tawny Frogmouth (Podargus strigoides) is a large species of frogmouth found throughout the Australian mainland, Tasmania, and southern New Guinea. Unlike the owl for which it is often mistaken, the Tawny Frogmouth is not a bird of prey. Instead, it is almost exclusively insectivorous. For defense, it relies on cryptic camouflage, standing still to appear part of a branch.Photo: Benjamint444

Defensive behaviour

I've just noticed this recent addition (2013-9-29) by 114.78.48.114.

If approached by a predator or threat, the bird will compress its body to the floor, whilst holding it's large mouth wide open, bearing a toothless lemon yellow yet intimidating interior.

I've been observing several Tawny Frogmouths in the wild for more than 3 years, and in my opinion, that is not what the Tawny Frogmouths do when threatened. A Tawny Frogmouth will not "compress its body to the floor". They do the reverse. They stretch upwards and forwards. Also, the word "bearing" is in this case spelled "baring". I don't think that the inside of the mouth is "lemon yellow yet intimidating" either. The word "it's" is also incorrectly spelled. It should be "its". So in my opinion, this addition should be removed. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Alan U. Kennington (talk • contribs) 09:53, 29 September 2013 (UTC)

Feedback

Article looking good - working towards Good Article or Featured Article status serves as a "stable/consensus" version that can be helpful in case of future vandalism or article erosion. Will make some comments below: Cas Liber (talk · contribs) 13:01, 2 July 2014 (UTC)

• Lead needs to be a bit bigger -I'd remove the bit on the mopoke misnaming to the taxonomy section, which is where I include material on alternate common, vernacular or aboriginal names, as the mopoke stuff is pretty historical now. Lead needs to summarise key points - have a look at something like Crescent Honeyeater or Willie Wagtail to get an idea. NBL Lead does not need inline referencing as all material there should be in body of article (where it'll have a ref)

• Add how subspecies differ from one another

• Remove gallery - make every image "count" by making sure it adds something unique - e.g. one with babies, one in camoflage, one awake etc. Commons becomes the de facto gallery.

I have removed the gallery. I replaced one other image on the page with an image of a frogmouth skull from gallery, as it seemed to be a more unique image than any other in the gallery. I think that further pruning is necessary, still. Pburka (talk) 13:39, 11 July 2014 (UTC)