Sri Lanka frogmouth facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Sri Lanka frogmouth |
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| A pair of ssp. roonwali, with female on right | |
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| Genus: |
Batrachostomus
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| Species: |
moniliger
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The Sri Lanka frogmouth (Batrachostomus moniliger) is a special bird found in the Western Ghats of southern India and Sri Lanka. It's related to nightjars and is active mostly at night, living in forest areas. This bird's feathers look a lot like dried leaves, which helps it hide perfectly on tree branches. This makes it super hard to spot! Each frogmouth usually has a favorite spot where it rests every day, unless something disturbs it. You can often hear its unique call at dawn and dusk. Male and female frogmouths look a little different from each other.
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What Does the Sri Lanka Frogmouth Look Like?
This amazing bird grows to about 23 centimetres (9.1 in) long. Like all frogmouths, it has a wide, hooked beak with small, slit-like nostrils. Its head is large, and its eyes face forward, giving it great binocular vision (meaning it can see depth really well).
Compared to other birds in its family, the Sri Lanka frogmouth has small wings. Its wing feathers have black spots with white tips, which helps tell it apart.
- Male frogmouths: They are usually gray-brown with thin stripes and a spotted head. Some males might be browner, looking more like females.
- Female frogmouths: They are more reddish-brown or chestnut brown. Females in India have tiny black speckles on their heads, but those in Sri Lanka might have fewer or no markings.
This bird also has short, stiff bristles around its eyes. There's a slightly different group of these birds in the Western Ghats, called ssp. roonwali.
- Roonwali males: They have brownish-gray patches on their wings and yellowish spots underneath.
- Roonwali females: They have bright reddish-brown wing patches and no spots underneath their wings.
Where Does the Sri Lanka Frogmouth Live?
You can find the Sri Lanka frogmouth in the Western Ghats of southwest India and in Sri Lanka. It prefers to live in tropical forests, especially where there's a lot of thick plants growing on the ground. Sometimes, it can even be found in places that have been changed by people, like plantations. Because it's active at night and blends in so well, it's easy to miss this bird!
How Does the Sri Lanka Frogmouth Behave?
It's rare to see a Sri Lanka frogmouth during the day unless you find its resting spot or it gets scared and flies away. These birds often use the same resting spot for many months.
When it feels threatened while resting, it slowly moves its head, pointing its beak upwards. This makes it look exactly like a broken branch, helping it stay hidden! It relies on this trick and will often stay perfectly still for a long time before flying off. If it feels very threatened, it might open its mouth wide to scare away danger.
Like other frogmouths, this bird eats insects. It catches them while flying or picks them up from the ground or tree branches. Sometimes, smaller birds might bother it during the day while it's resting.
The Sri Lanka frogmouth is quite noisy at dusk.
- Female's call: A loud, screechy "shkeerauuw" that gets quieter and ends with a series of quick hiccups.
- Both male and female calls: A fast series of "skwar-skwar-skwar" sounds.
Reproduction and Life Cycle
In southern India, the Sri Lanka frogmouth breeds from January to April. In Sri Lanka, it breeds from February to March.
The nest is a small, soft pad made of moss, lined with soft down feathers. On the outside, it's covered with lichens and bark to help it blend in. The female lays just one white egg. When the bird sits on the nest, it covers it completely and holds its tail flat against the tree. This makes it look just like a lichen-covered part of the tree! The male often sits on the egg during the day, and both parents share this job at night.
After the baby bird (chick) is old enough to fly, the male destroys the nest. The parents often use the same branch for many nesting seasons. The young bird might stay with its parents for a couple of months, huddling between them at their resting spot.
Images for kids
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B. m. moniliger female on nest, Gal Oya, Sri Lanka
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B. m. roonwali on a nest with a recently hatched chick
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B. m. roonwali young bird (middle) with adult female to left and male to right
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B. m. roonwali at Thattekad Bird Sanctuary, India
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