Hello, friends. Our bird this week is the Great Potoo, a relative of the frogmouth we learned about a few weeks ago. Like the frogmouth, it has large eyes, a broad mouth, and an uncanny ability to blend in with tree branches. Wikipedia says it is known for its eerie call, and I can see why. I looked it up and it sounds like a throaty, pained “wow” or maybe “mom.” Definitely freaky. This is a reference as dated as it is specific, but remember Ravenholm, the zombie level from Half Life 2? My impression is that it wouldn’t sound out of place there. The potoo has large, dark eyes and elliptical wings that allow it to fly silently, catching its prey unaware.
Great potoos live in southern Mexico and down through central and south America, as far south as southeastern Brazil and Bolivia. They are morphologically consistent across their large range, showing little variation in size and coloration. They live in dense, humid forests, and prefer relative lowlands, generally limiting themselves to foothills of around 1,500m. They will also live in open woodlands and meadows, but always require nearby trees in which to hide and from which to hunt. During the day they blend in with the trees, and prefer to be high off the ground when they do, usually more than 12m (~40ft) off the ground. Just like frogmouths, they camouflages itself not just with their impressive plumage, but by making sure it looks like the branch on which the bird is perched. At night the potoo will move to much lower perches, around 1.5m off the ground, and hunt from there.
When hunting, they will return to the same perch after a successful sally, and use the same perch night after night. Great potoos eat large flying insects and related critters, including beetles, katydids (which look a lot like grasshoppers) and proper grasshoppers and crickets. They will occasionally eat bats and birds as well.
Breeding typically takes place between February and August, but depending on local conditions it will occur year-round. The birds nest in depressions in large branches, they do not appear to build an actual structure, just look for a space which will keep an egg in place. Not a lot is known about how these birds tend to the egg, but the resulting chick is not seen alone until a month after hatching. Once it is fledged, at least another month later, it does not return to the nest.
“Although the adult potoo likely has few natural predators, predation of eggs, nestlings and fledging is apparently not uncommon. Adults stay near the nest throughout the day and rely upon camouflage to protect their offspring. Predators, while not confirmed, of great potoo nests in Costa Rica have included monkeys such as mantled howlers, Geoffroy’s spider monkeys and white-headed capuchins as well as tayras and collared forest falcons.[13]“
I always like to read about a bird that is good enough at hiding that our information about it is incomplete, that the great potoo appears to be the latest example. Have a happy holiday if you’re celebrating one that happens next week, and if not, I hope you are able to enjoy some time off from work nonetheless.
Links: https://tinyurl.com/5any8cy7, https://tinyurl.com/fx83pyr7, https://tinyurl.com/3dbw379z, https://tinyurl.com/s5kmv5ee