Tawny Frogmouth - Podgarus strigoides

[Jeabou]

Found a dead Tawny Frogmouth yesterday, laying face down at the entrance to my carport. It had been raining all day and it was pretty wet. I put on some gloves and picked it up to inspect it, thought maybe my Border Collies had got to it somehow, but on a closer inspection I couldn't find any visible signs of how it died, there was no blood or cuts or anything. My mum thinks it may have been there all day since the night before, she didn't know what it was so she waited til I got home.

Just wondering if anyone knows of any common diseases or reasons this poor Tawny would just drop dead? I found one article about a nematode bacteria that develops in the brain and lungs but that was about it. It was such a shame, such a beautiful bird.

 

[shelby]

i wonder if it had prehaps ingested a poisoned mouse, or collided with a branch or the facia of your garage? I'm a wildlife carer and we often have them in the house, they aren't the best flyers and their landings can be more crash then finese, it's a little hard to guage the size of the bird from your pics, but it looks to be an adult, did you happen to notice if it's breast bone was prominent?
they are a lovely bird, it's always sad to see them pass

 

[moosenoose]

Such a shame, they are beautiful birds. I guess like all things, health is a pretty fragile thing.

 

[redbellybite]

hey they also get old and die ...who knows it could be a grandad that lived a full life ..

 

[Jeabou]

i wonder if it had prehaps ingested a poisoned mouse, or collided with a branch or the facia of your garage? I'm a wildlife carer and we often have them in the house, they aren't the best flyers and their landings can be more crash then finese, it's a little hard to guage the size of the bird from your pics, but it looks to be an adult, did you happen to notice if it's breast bone was prominent?
they are a lovely bird, it's always sad to see them pass

I unfortunately didn't take that much attention to the breast bone. It's not often I am that close to birds and am still learning the important things to look at. I did however know exactly what it was even when I was about 5 metres away from driving into the carport. I would say though that it was about 35-40cm beak to tail. We live on bush property, so I had to move it elsewhere away from my dogs and attracting other predators to the house.

 

[Asharee133]

they cant fly in the rain, so it couldve crash landed

 

[Jeabou]

they cant fly in the rain, so it couldve crash landed

That is a very good point. I am currently in Townsville and the rain has been non stop.

 

[Fuscus]

They are fragile creatures. I hit this tawny with my car while doing less than 20 kilometres an hour. It looked completely unharmed but was dead within 15 minutes.

 

[giggle]

It appears to me he has collided with something in flight, knocked himself out. I have revived many that have flown into objects. But if left they will often die. As someone else said, the weather has really been off recently, that certainly would have aided his demise. His pose seems to indicate he collided with something.

My mother has had lorikeets fly into her car while driving on numerous occasions lol Both to rebound off the windows and to fly straight into an open window and into the car!