Evidence of polygamy in the Tawny Frogmouth

An adult male Tawny Frogmouth sits second from the right between five fledglings. 

I recently found a brood of five fledgling Tawny Frogmouths Podargus strigoides that were being attended by one adult male and two adult females. The birds were first observed at the nest on 14 November 2024 and the birds were seen on several subsequent visits to the nest area (up to 29 Dec 2024). The nesting area was in dry sclerophyll forest on Black Mountain in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT). As far as I can determine, this is the first record of a brood of five Tawny Frogmouths.

The two adult female Tawny Frogmouths, perched on the same branch on 29 November. Female A is at the top of the branch, female B lower down on the same branch.

The observations were made while monitoring nests and broods as part of a long term study of Tawny Frogmouth breeding ecology (18 years). Six trios of breeding Tawny Frogmouths have been recorded previously in the study, although none with more than three fledglings (1x1, 2x2, 2x3, 1x failed). These records have not been published, I had planned to publish them in more context when all the data are collected. However, due to the interest in this new record, I decided to write a brief report that was published in the local bird club journal, Canberra Bird Notes 49(2) see here.  It is not known if one or both females laid the eggs in the nest in this instance. Given that frogmouths usually lay 1-3 eggs it appears that both females in this instance laid eggs and this was a polygamous relationship consisting of a breeding trio. In the article, I pondered whether this was the first record of a brood of five or of polygyny in any frogmouth species, or polygyny in any of the Caprimulgiformes. The records for the frogmouths seem to be the first of their kind, although there have been previous records of polygyny in nightjar species. 

          

Above left: Female A. She is overall more grey than female B. There is less rufous colouring around the face and less prominent streaks on the breast. 

Above right: Female B. She is overall more rufous, especially on the wing coverts and around the face. Her breast is more obviously streaked.

The breeding biology of the Caprimulgiformes is poorly known and they are generally thought to be monogamous (Cleere 2010). Polygyny has seemingly only been documented in four species, the Standard-winged Nightjar Macrodipteryx longipennis (Holyoak 2001), the Pennant-winged Nightjar M. vexillarius (Jackson 2004), the White-winged Nightjar Caprimulgus candicans (Pople 2003), and European Nightjar Caprimulgus europaeus (Odder Jensen 2013, Evens et al, 2024). The males of the first two species have exaggerated plumage differences from the females, such as elongated feathers, which they use for display in leks and so are considered to be polygynous. Male White-winged Nightjar also display in dispersed (exploded) leks (Frith 2024) and have been proved to mate with more than one female in a study using VHF radio tracking. The European Nightjar has only recently been proved to be polygynous in studies using GPS-telemetry.

A full report will be published on the breeding ecology of Tawny Frogmouths in the ACT when the study is completed and a separate publication will discuss polygyny in the species and other Caprimulgiformes.

The adult male frogmouth sits with four of the fledglings behind him, on 29 December. The other fledgling was with female A and female B was on a branch above them.

Cleere, N. & Nurney, D. (1998). Nightjars. – Pica Press, Sussex

Evens, R., Lathouwers, M., Creemers, J., Ulenaers, E., Eens, M., & Kempenaers, B. (2024). A Case of Facultative Polygyny in an Enigmatic Monogamous Species, the European Nightjar (Caprimulgus europaeus). Ecology and Evolution, 14(10): e70366.

Frith, C. B. (2024). Use and definitions of the terms arena, lek and court in describing avian courtship sites. Ibis.

Holyoak, D.T. (2001): Nightjars and their allies: The Caprimulgiformes. – Oxford University Press

Odder Jensen, N. (2013). A Case of Polyterritorial Polygyny in European Nightjar Caprimulgus europaeus. Dansk Ornitologisk Forenings Tidsskrift 107: 239–244.

Jackson, H. D. (2004). Courtship displays of the Pennant-winged Nightjar, Semeiophorus vexillarius. Ostrich 75: 1-4.

Pople, R. G. (2003). The ecology and conservation of the white-winged nightjar Caprimulgus candicans [Apollo - University of Cambridge Repository]. https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.16393

 

 A Helping Hand

I met two Shingleback lizards Trachydosaurus rugosus yesterday while out in the bush. They were eating the flowers of conola plants, but they could only reach the lowest flowers. So, I picked some of the tallest flowers and gave them to the Shinglebacks. They were very grateful and ate them up quickly. They are mostly vegetarian, well, they are very slow moving animals.

Its nice to give a helping hand when I can.

 Mountain Forest Orchids

Last week I was up in the mountain forests of Namadgi and I found s patch of woodland that was rich with orchids. There were four species within fifty metres. As with most orchids, if we walk slowly, watch where we tread, we'll find them. These plants are so easily overlooked as they have simple leaves, slender stems and small, often inconspicuous flowers. Just be careful not to step on any that are not yet in flower, they are especially difficult to see.

The long stem, 200mm, of a Highland Golden Moth Diuris monticola rises well above the leaf and bark litter on the alpine forest floor at1200m. This is an upland species that is related to D. chryseopsis which grows on lower ground.

There were several groups of several plants in the woodland. Most of the plants had double flowers, which were more a sulphur than golden yellow. 

 

The straight stem, 300mm, and curved green and white hood of a Large Mountain Greenhood Pterostylis monticola. Again, there were several stands of several plants, all in flatter wetter ground.

The hooded flower, simple, yet perfectly balanced intricacy

A single stem, 300mm, of a Cinnamon Bells Gastrodia sesamoides holds its three drooping flowers up above the ground cover where insects can more easily find them. There was one other plant which was not yet in full flower. Its unopened buds were drooping from the stem.

These were once called Potato Orchids. 

A species of Bird Orchid Chiloglottis sp. A single flower on a very upright stem, 60-70mm, with two basal leaves. This tiny plant was growing in moist soil close to the Greenhoods.

Unfortunately, this one was not fully open and there were no others in flower nearby, so the precise identification is uncertain.

 Wet wallabies

On a recent visit to Namadgi National Park in the ACT, I had to wait a bit until the rain stopped before I went for a walk in the forest. As I waited, I noticed something twitching in the grass, and there were several humps of wet grey fur in the grass.

The humps moved a little and a pair of ears flicked at a fly, then another pair of ears rose up out of the grass.

Eventually a head rose up below the ears and the eyes of a Red-Necked Wallaby fixed onto me - very casually. Clearly the wallaby wasn't perturbed and it seemed to not want to move. It had seen lots of humans in the carpark before, setting off on walks along the forest paths. There were several of wallabies, and they were all quite relaxed, sitting up to their ears in food. 

The rain didn't appear to bother them. It wasn't penetrating their thick woolly fur and the odd dribble down their nose was easily shaken off with a jerk of the head. Wet weather is good for colour satuation in photographs, so as soon as the rain stopped, or nearly stopped, I grabbed some shots to capture the richness of colour in their fur, and white-stripe along their cheeks that was emphasised by the light. 

It's good to stop and take alternative looks at wildlife, to see the detail and watch animals at peace. And while I was there I then noticed the colour of the bark on some nearby Snow Gums. The rain had soaked the bark, some dribbles were running down over the flakes of bark, and every tree trunk was individually colourful. A few hours later when I returned, the rain had long-stopped, the sun was out, the colours were flat on the wallabies' dry fur and the bark was a soft dull grey.

Pick of the Year 2023 - part three

Otters 

In this last post of 2023, I would like to share some of the most amazing moments I had all year, close up views of wild otters. I had several super encounters with these amazing animals in the west Highlands and Islands of Scotland. I watched them fishing for butterfish, crabs and plaice. What a menu. I watched them from clifftops, following their sleek twists and turns underwater. I watched them exploring rivers, popping in and out of their holts, families rolling about together and those shown here, a teenage cub that had only recently left its family. She was fishing, and I reckon it was a female by the small size. Then she pulled out to sleep on the seaweed. The second sequence is of a courting pair whom I watched cruising along the coast. I crept onto a tideline rock and watched them swim past a few metres away then pull out to groom on a rock twenty metres away. 

The cub was in as deep a sleep as ottters ever seem to go, they fidget a lot. It stretched and yawned, and after about half an hour it was awakened by a few herring Gulls that swooped low to check if it had left any food scraps about. It lifted its sleepy head then dawdled down to the water, scambled over the rocks towards me and slipped in right next to me.

The pair swam right next to one another, twisting and swapping places. Then when they pulled out of the water they shook themselves like dogs, from nose to tail, scattering water droplets in a great wide spray. They seemed to know where they were going and quickly curled up, groomed, fidgeted a bit, groomed and curled up again for brief sleep. They too left after about twenty minutes. And to top it all, there was a porpoise cruising past as they swam away. 

A very special experience.