Srilanka Frogmouth - "The Dance"
Channel: Dipu Karuthedathu
Date: 25/02/2013

Sri Lanka Frogmouth (Ceylon Frogmouth - Batrachostomus moniliger) is found in the Western Ghats and Sri Lanka. Possibly widespread, but due to their nocturnal behavior and camouflage, are rarely found during a bird trip, unless you know a day roost. 

In this video, taken in Urulanthanni forest in Thattekkad Bird Sanctuary, a male fogmouth is seen brooding. During the video, the chick's head/body is also visible as a white fluffy ball! It is documented elsewhere that the males brood during the day time, whereas both the pair share the duties in the night (For details, refer Wiki references). 

This video also shows a "dancing" behavior of the brooding parent where the bird moves laterally left and right over the nest, occassionally opening the mouth wide. Current literature mentions a threat display of a brooding male as puffing almost like a ball and opening the mouth when intruders approach the nest (Eg: Squirrel), but does not mention the "dancing" part. Here, few birders were trying to photograph the bird from other angles. Hence the actions captured here could be a variation of threat display. Further observations on un-disturbed nests could confirm this behaviour.

Note: Intially, we thought that the bird could be adjusting the egg position. But later, when reviewing photos and videos, we realized that the nest had chick. That is when I thought that the behavior could be a threat display. Thankfully, we had maintained approx 10m distance from the bird and the bird was not flushed till we left!

There is no copyright on this video (except for music) and anyone is free to make use of the visual contents :-)