Profile
In flight
Nightbirds
Papuan Frogmouth
Podargus papuensis
- rare
- 25 km/h
- Least Concern
Largest frogmouth in the world. Its gape is so wide it catches flying beetles straight out of the air.
- Population
- Not numerically quantified; described as common within its restricted Australian range and not uncommon across Papua New Guinea, with population reported to be in slow decline (suspected 1-19% loss over three generations, driven by forest habitat loss)
- Habitat
- Subtropical/tropical moist lowland forest and forest edges (including mangroves), moist and dry savanna, dry shrubland, degraded former forest, rural gardens and urban areas; occurs from sea level up to about 1,700 m elevation. Roosts by day on a horizontal branch, often above water, relying on camouflage.
- Fun fact
- The Papuan Frogmouth is the largest of the frogmouth species and, rather than fleeing danger, relies on its cryptic gray-brown plumage and a frozen, eyes-nearly-shut posture to impersonate a broken tree branch.
- Range
- Cape York Peninsula in northern Queensland, Australia, and across New Guinea including the Aru Islands (Indonesia and Papua New Guinea); estimated extent of occurrence about 2,400,000 km². Resident/non-migratory throughout.
- Diet
- Nocturnal ambush predator that sallies from a perch at dusk to catch large insects (e.g. moths, beetles); occasionally also takes small reptiles, amphibians, or birds.
- Size
- 0.53 m
