Tawny Frog Mouth
Podargus strigoides
Life span: up to 18 years in the wild and around 20 years in captivity
Size: Body: 35-60cm/ Wingspan: 45-60cm/ Weight: 100 - 500gms.
Breeding: 2 years old, mating all year round depending on food
availability, usually 1-3 white eggs, incubation period 25-30 days and
fledging at 25-30 day old
Habit: active mainly at dusk and dawn (this is called crepuscular).They
usually live in pairs.
Diet: mainly eats insects, but will also eat mice, frogs, small birds,
scorpions and occasionally fruit
Voice: repeated low pitch “oo-ooom (sounds like a flat tyre), occasionally
hisses & screeches
Conservation: due to insecticides Tawny Frog Mouths may feed on
poisoned insects, and then the lethal pesticide/chemical is stored in their
body fat. During winter when they use their fat storage they are found
convulsing, paralysed or dead.
Found: woodlands and suburbs, in most parts of Australia and Papua New
Guinea and Solomon Islands.
*All Australia Native Animals are protected by the Fauna Protection Act. For more information call
National Parks and Wildlife S.A ph: 81244972 or www.wildlifepermit.sa.gov.au