FROGMOUTHS (Podargidae), group of nocturnal birds found in the Indomalayan and Australasian realms. Three subgroups, or genera, containing thirteen species are distinguished according to their geographic location.
Frogmouths have proportionally large heads and large yellow or orange eyes. They get their name from the batrachian gape of their mouths when opened. Their large, hooked beaks allow the birds to consume a variety of prey; while the smaller species primarily eat insects, larger species also hunt rodents, small birds, and frogs. The frogmouth hunts by pouncing on prey from the ground or snatching it off tree trunks. The birds subdue their larger prey by beating it against stones before consuming it.
While the different genera of frogmouths are relatively similar in appearance, biochemical research has identified important differences that support an argument for placing them in different subfamilies, namely, Podargus for the three larger Australian species and Batrachostomus for the nine smaller Southeast Asian species. In 2007 an additional genus, Rigidipenna, was identified; it contains only one species, the Solomon Islands frogmouth, which had been previously misclassified as a subspecies of the Australian marbled frogmouth.
All frogmouths build cup-shaped nests. Batrachostomus build nests with down from their feathers in which they lay one or two eggs, while Podargus make larger nests made out of twigs and lay up to four eggs. Both feed their young on regurgitated food; fledgling frogmouths remain in the nest until mature enough to fly.
The tawny frogmouth (Podargus strigoides) of Australia and Tanzania is known to engage in a remarkable camouflage technique known a “stumping”: when threatened it will crane its neck and freeze in place with feathers flattened and eyes nearly closed, giving it the appearance of a broken branch and fooling potential predators into seeing it as part of the tree. In 2004 the tawny frogmouth was designated “the world’s most unfortunate-looking bird” in an article in a popular Australian nature magazine. Nearly two decades later, however, it was deemed the “most Instagrammable bird” by researchers using a data-based method called Image Aesthetic Appeal scoring.