Ceylon frog mouth
| Ceylon frog mouth | ||||||||||
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A pair of ssp. roonwali , female in the photo on the right |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||
| Batrachostom moniliger | ||||||||||
| Blyth , 1849 |
The Ceylon frog mouth ( Batrachostomus moniliger ) is a nocturnal bird from the owl dovetail family.
features
The 19 to 23 cm long bird is colored red-brown on the upper side with white spots and yellow-brown bands. The throat is white and the belly is cream to whitish in color. As with all frog mouths, the plumage provides excellent camouflage, especially when he is sitting on a branch.
The large flat beak has bristles at the base of the beak and a huge frog-mouth-like opening. They are bad fliers with short rounded wings and blunt tails.
The two sexes are similar and difficult to distinguish.
Occurrence
The Ceylon frogmouth lives in rain and secondary forests in Sri Lanka and in southwest India . Sometimes the Ceylon frogmouth can also be found in human-influenced areas, especially in plantations. Mostly it is overlooked because of its secret, nocturnal way of life and its very good camouflage.
behavior
This bird is a tree-dwelling species, but it captures most of its food after a short flight from a lookout on the ground. It seems that frogmouths of this genus can fly better than the species of the genus Podargus . During the day the bird rests in the trees. At night he hunts scorpions , millipedes , snails , reptiles , amphibians , small birds and rodents from a hide .
Reproduction
A single white egg is placed in a pillow-like nest made of down from the Ceylon frog's mouth and lined with moss, lichen, tree bark and cobwebs. The nest is usually located in a hollow tree trunk or a half-cave formed in trees, whereby the entrance should be rather narrow to very narrow.
The breeding season extends from January to April in southern India and from February to March in Sri Lanka. The egg is usually incubated by the male during the day and by the female at night, and occasionally by the male, as long as the sexes can be distinguished. After the chick hatches, the nest is destroyed by the male. The parents use the site of the nest for repeated breeding. The young birds stay with their parents for a few months, but later find their own territory.
literature
- Bryan Richard: Birds. Parragon, Bath, ISBN 1-4054-5506-3
Web links
- Videos, photos and sound recordings for Batrachostomus auritus in the Internet Bird Collection
- Internet Bird Collection
- Calls on Xeno-Canto