The bird is drab, difficult to spot and looks halfway between a smiling frog and a clump of dry leaves. But the Sri Lankan frogmouth has enchanted birdwatchers like none of the 270-odd birds of the Thattekkad Bird Sanctuary have. Though frogmouth pairs located in the sanctuary have increased from two in 1983 to 42, these fascinating birds face new threats now, says ornithologist R. Sugathan, who studies the birds.
Nocturnal birds
Sri Lankan frogmouths are small nocturnal birds found across the Western Ghats and Sri Lanka. Very well-camouflaged, they are notoriously difficult to spot in the wild and often occur in pairs — the male is smaller and grey, and the female a dark brown.
The species, long thought to be extinct, was rediscovered by Mr. Sugathan in 1976 under the tutelage of late renowned ornithologist Salim Ali.
In 1983, when Mr. Sugathan conducted a survey in Thattekkad to declare the then-reserve forest a bird sanctuary, he spotted just two pairs of frogmouths in the area.
“The main threats were habitat loss, fire and over-grazing. But with the declaration of the protected area, their population has increased.”
The ornithologist, who heads the sanctuary’s Bird Monitoring Cell, has identified nearly 42 pairs of frogmouths in the 26 square-kilometre-area of the sanctuary. But they breed very slowly, he says. “The birds have just one breeding season a year and lay a single egg. If they lose the egg or chick, they have to wait till the next season to breed again.”
New threats
Increasing numbers of bonnet macaques are now affecting the birds’ breeding, claims Mr. Sugathan. “These macaques eat the egg or chick if they come across frogmouth nests,” he says.
The birds have also adapted to new habitats, he adds. “They can now be seen even in fragmented forests as well as agricultural areas close to forests. One necessity, however, is zero human disturbance.”
Human disturbance and activity can cause these highly-territorial birds to shift places during the daytime.
This can spell doom for the nocturnal birds — they often do not return to those perches again. This means that tourists and the freelance guides who lead them would need to be extra-careful while trying to spot the frogmouth in the reserve forest surrounding the sanctuary, which does not receive the same degree of wildlife protection.
“A real lover of nature would keep the welfare of the bird in mind and not get too close to it or use flashes for photography,” he says.
