Lesser Potoo
From Free net encyclopedia
{{Taxobox | color = pink | name = Lesser Potoo | regnum = Animalia | phylum = Chordata | classis = Aves | ordo = Caprimulgiformes | familia = Nyctibiidae | genus = Nyctibius | species = N. griseus | binomial = Nyctibius griseus | binomial_authority = (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.
References
- Birds of Venezuela by Hilty, ISBN 0-7136-6418-5
- Birds of Trinidad and Tobago by ffrench, ISBN 0-7136-6759-1