Lesser Potoo
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| Nyctibius griseus (Gmelin, 1789) |
The Lesser Potoo or Common Potoo (Nyctibius griseus), is a nocturnal bird which breeds in tropical Central and South America from Costa Rica to northern Argentina and northern Uruguay.
This potoo is a resident breeder in open woodlands and savannah. The single lilac-spotted white egg is laid directly in a depression in a tree limb.
The Lesser Potoo is a large near passerine bird related to the nightjars and frogmouths, but like other potoos it lacks the bristles around the mouth found in the true nightjars. It is 33-38cm long and pale greyish to brown, finely patterned with black and buff to look like a log, this is a safety measure to help protect it from predators. It has large orange eyes.
This nocturnal insectivore hunts from a perch like a shrike or flycatcher. During the day it perches upright on a tree stump, and is completely invisible, looking like part of the stump because it stays so completely still as it perches.
The Lesser Potoo can be located at night by the reflection of light from its eyes as it sits on a post, or by its haunting melancholic song, a BO-OU, BO-ou, bo-ou, bo-ou, bo-ou, bo-ou, bo-ou, bo-ou dropping in both pitch and volume.
[edit] References
- BirdLife International (2004). Nyctibius griseus. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 11 May 2006. Database entry includes justification for why this species is of least concern
- ffrench, Richard (1991). A Guide to the Birds of Trinidad and Tobago, 2nd edition, Comstock Publishing. ISBN 0-8014-9792-2.
- Hilty, Steven L (2003). Birds of Venezuela. London: Christopher Helm. ISBN 0-7136-6418-5.
