Alice Springs Desert Park

ASDP BirdsAustralian Boobook Owl Australian Bustard Australian Hobby Banded Lapwing Barn Owl Black Kite Black-breasted Buzzard Black-faced Woodswallow Black-fronted Dotterel Bourke’s Parrot Brown Falcon Emu Inland Dotterel Orange Chat Pied Honeyeater Princess Parrot Rainbow Bee-eater Red-capped Robin Spinifex Pigeon Splendid Fairy-wren Tawny Frogmouth Wedge-tailed Eagle Western Bowerbird Whistling Kite White-faced Heron White-winged Fairywren

Alice Springs Desert ParkFauna Flora Nature Theatre Nocturnal House

The Tawny Frogmouth (Podargus strigoides) is a stocky and compact bird with rounded wings and short legs. They have wide, heavy olive-grey to blackish bills that are hooked at the tip and topped with distinctive tufts of bristles. Their eyes are large, yellow, and frontally placed, a trait that is shared by owls. The Tawny Frogmouths are often mistaken for owls due to their nocturnal habits and colouring.

The tawny frogmouth provide some great examples of mimicry to be seen in Australian birds. Its cryptic plumage assist with camouflaged as it takes on and blends in with its pretense of being a broken tree branch. With their silvery-grey plumage patterned with white, black, and brown streaks and mottles they appear to become invisible during daylight.

The Tawny Frogmouth can be seen not only in the Nocturnal House, but also perched under the shade roof of the Nature Theatre during the bird show.

Images © Ausemade PL


  • Scientific classification
  • Kingdom: Animalia
  • Phylum: Chordata
  • Class: Aves
  • Order: Caprimulgiformes
  • Family: Podargidae
  • Genus: Podargus
  • Species: Podargus strigoides

ASDP BirdsAustralian Boobook Owl Australian Bustard Australian Hobby Banded Lapwing Barn Owl Black Kite Black-breasted Buzzard Black-faced Woodswallow Black-fronted Dotterel Bourke’s Parrot Brown Falcon Emu Inland Dotterel Orange Chat Pied Honeyeater Princess Parrot Rainbow Bee-eater Red-capped Robin Spinifex Pigeon Splendid Fairy-wren Tawny Frogmouth Wedge-tailed Eagle Western Bowerbird Whistling Kite White-faced Heron White-winged Fairywren

ASDP FaunaASDP Arachnida ASDP Birds ASDP Insects ASDP Reptiles Dingo Ghost Bat Greater Bilby Numbat Red Kangaroo Short-beaked Echidna Spinifex Hopping Mouse Thorny Devil Western Quoll

Alice Springs Desert ParkFauna Flora Nature Theatre Nocturnal House