Lesser Potoo
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| 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. 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 looks like part of the stump.
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.
Reference
- Birds of Venezuela by Hilty, ISBN 0-7136-6418-5
- Birds of Trinidad and Tobago by ffrench, ISBN 0-7136-6759-1