Marbled Frogmouth & Tawny Frogmouth

Marbled Frogmouth

It has been a good season for Marbled Frogmouths in the Sunshine Coast hinterland. I found these birds at a new site last night, not far from Charlie Moreland camping ground on Little Yabba Creek (see this link for  sightings of other birds around the camping ground) in the foothills of the Conondale Range. This is the male bird, which is greyer than the brownish female.

Tawny Frogmouth

By coincidence, this Tawny Frogmouth was in my garden at Ninderry the evening before we headed off to Little Yabba for a three-day campout.

Marbled Frogmouth

Some clear differences between the species can be seen in these images. Note the relatively longer, more tapered tail of the Marbled, which I regard as a key identification feature. Note also the blotching on the underparts of the Marbled as opposed to the fine streaking of the Tawny's underparts.

Tawny Frogmouth

The white eye-brow of the Marbled is clearly wider than that of the Tawny while the eyes of Marbled are darker (though not the clear orange claimed in field guides) than the bright yellow eyes of Tawny.

Marbled Frogmouth - male

This Marbled Frogmouth was at eye-level in the forest. They often sound as though they are much higher in the trees when they can be quite close to the ground.

Marbled Frogmouth - female

This is a female Marbled Frogmouth I photographed on an earlier occasion.