Myth of the Tawny Frogmouth "Owl"

Explanation: Looking so much like an owl, this "false owl" of the Australian woodlands confuses many.

This is a Tawny Frogmouth, not an owl at all, even though its "species name" (more formally, its specific epithet) is "strigoides," meaning owl-like, because owls belong to the taxonomic family Strigidae.

But, confusingly, some taxonomies include the Tawny Frogmouth in the order Strigiformes, which includes owls, but in a different suborder and infraorder than owls therein.

Confused much?

Look again:

How owl-like the frogmouth appears!
It is mottled, has wide eyes, and is nocturnal, like most medium owls its size.

Adding to the confusion, Tawny Frogmouths have a call that is similar to that of the Southern Boobook Owl (Ninox boobook), also found in the same region of Australia.
This is why some people erroneously refer to the frogmouth as a Morepork or Mopoke, the owl name.

But an owl it is not! Its open mouth indeed resembles that of a frog's. They are common residents of woodlands, forests, and forested wetlands, and may be more related to nightjars. But it flies in silence like an owl, to snare its insect and small mammal and lizard prey.

And one source cites a bit of indigenous Australian folklore about the Tawny Frogmouth, that they are imbued with powers of a shaman, in that some shamanic healers were thought to be able to transform into night birds such as owls, and assumedly frogmouths.

Acknowledgment:
     This EPOW episode borrows from a previous article I had written with Deane Lewis his wonderful website The Owl Pages.

EPOW - Ecology Picture of the Week