Great Potoo

The great potoo has a large head in relation to its body, large, dark brown eyes, and a short but broad beak. Their wings are elliptical in shape, their tail is elongated, and their feathers are white, gray, black, and burgundy. The tail colors match with that of the rest of the body, with the exception of white bars that can be seen going across the tail laterally.

Range in mass: 360 to 650 g (13 to 23 oz) Range in length: 480 to 600 mm (19 to 24 in) Range in wingspan: 700 to 804 mm (27.6 to 31.7 in) Average wingspan: 734.8 mm (28.93 in)

They range from southern Mexico through northeastern Guatemala and through most of Central America down through South America as far as southeastern Brazil and Bolivia. In general, the great potoo are distributed from humid to semi-humid forested habitats. While this species is widely spread out geographically, there is little to no variation in their appearance, such as size or plumage. The great potoo is found mostly in dense lowland forests, forest edges, and clearings. It may also range into foothills (up to about 1,500 m elevation), second-growth, open woodlands (including plantations) and is sometimes seen around meadows, but they always require trees-etc., for their camouflaged imitative perch. In the day, they are normally found perching or nesting, usually higher than 12 meters (39 ft) above ground level within big trees. The branches they choose to perch on are usually 20 to 30 centimeters (7.9 to 11.8 in) in diameter. At night time, they may go to lower perches 1.5 meters (4.9 ft) above the ground, from which they hunt.

This nocturnal predator is usually seen perched high above the ground while foraging, hawking when prey is spotted. After the pounce, the potoo almost always returns to its previous perch. Normally, during the day, it perches upright on a tree stump and is overlooked because it resembles part of the stump; this is a camouflage, not just by coloration, but a camouflage by the setting. The Great Potoo can be located at night by the reflection of light from its eyes as it sits vertically on a post, roost, or angled tree trunk. Great potoos are shy and solitary creatures. However, they have begun to perch on man-made things such as plastic bottles. This proves how people continue to affect wildlife and natural habitats in the present day.

Breeding. Breeding has been recorded as typically February to August, but depending on the portion of this bird's range breeding birds can be met with almost year-round. The nest is a slight depression on a thick tree branch, at least 10 m (33 ft) above ground, with a single white (slightly spotted) egg measuring about 5.2 cm × 3.8 cm (2.0 in × 1.5 in). Few details are known of the brooding behavior, but about a month elapses before the offspring is seen alone at the nest. A chick of a few days old weighed 220 g (7.8 oz). …