Bangalore Birding - Ceylon Frogmouth - India Bird Watching

http://www.bangalorebirding.com - Taxonomically known as Batrachostomus moniliger, the Ceylon Frogmouth is a highly adapted forest bird with froglike croaking call and shape of the head. The high pressure on forests created by fast growth of human population has rendered this bird homeless and this is the principal reason due to which it has gone to the condition of endangered bird.

The Frogmouths are a group of nocturnal birds mainly found in the tropical forests. About 13 species of these birds have been reported to inhabit different forests in different parts of the world. Out of this number two species belong to India. One of these two species, one species is found in South India and the other is found in Himalyas. In south India, frogmouths are found in the forests of the Western Ghats. The same species is found in Ceylon or Srilanka too. These birds belong to the aves family known as Batrachostomidae of the genus Batrachostomus. It is called by different names in different languages like- Ceylon Frogmouth in English; Podarge de Ceylan in French; Ceylonfroschmaul in German and Podargo de Ceilán in Spanish. It is regarded as endemic to Srilanka (Grimmet et al. 1998, Rasmussen and Anderton 2005). Male and female birds are distinguished by colour and pattern of spots as the male bird looks grey and heavily spotted, and the female bird looks brown to rufous with comparatively less spots on the plumes (Warakagoda 2001). The bird usually does not appear during the day. However if it appears it is camouflaged by its cryptic plumage and appearing like a broken branch.

At night, it hunts insects and beetles with its large gape. The flight appears weak and fluttery, but they are capable of flying quietly under the forest canopy. Frogmouths build nests on woody climber and dense branches of trees. Sometimes these build nests in the forks of trees or wooden platforms that they build themselves by decorating them with mosses and lichens or simply by their own feathers. They lay 1 or 2 white eggs, which both sexes incubate, usually the female by night, and the male by day. The young are covered with down at hatching and remain in the nest until able to fly. Frogmouths sleep during the day in a very special fashion. They sleep horizontally or lengthwise on the branch of a tree with their heads up and eyes closed. While sleeping no one can easily identify or spot the bird because of its specific colour which perfectly matches with the colour of the surrounding.

Category:

Pets & Animals

Tags:

• Bangalore
• Birdwatching
• India
• birding
• Sri
• Lanka
• Frogmouth