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Vocalizations in great potoos take place mostly at night and are assumed to be a way of communicating territorial boundaries to other great potoos. The repertoire of vocalizations includes a deeper, frog-like "baaaao" and an eerier "whoap". Between the two different calls the "whoap" occurs more often, and has been heard from both birds that are perched and in flight. In rare instances clicking noises have been heard, but their purpose is unknown.
Communication Channels: acoustic
Perception Channels: visual ; tactile ; acoustic ; chemical
Currently great potoos are not of primary conservation concern. They inhabit a broad geographic region and are capable of long distance dispersal. It is suspected that the population has been drastically decreased with the reduction in forest area associated with slash and burn farming, but remaining populations are estimated to be large.
US Migratory Bird Act: no special status
US Federal List: no special status
CITES: no special status
State of Michigan List: no special status
IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: least concern
There are no adverse effects of great potoos on humans.
Great potoos are of no real economic importance to humans, although they play an important role in their native ecosystems.
Great potoos are a predatory species that prey on larger flying invertebrates and in some cases vertebrates, like smaller birds or bats.
Great potoos are carnivores that hunt nocturnal, flying prey items in the air at night, most frequently large insects and sometimes bats. They usually find a lower perch to fly from and then return to the perch to consume the prey item.
Animal Foods: mammals; insects
Primary Diet: carnivore (Eats terrestrial vertebrates, Insectivore )
Great potoos are neotropical birds found throughout Central America from as far north as southern Mexico to as far south as Bolivia.
Biogeographic Regions: neotropical (Native )
Great potoos live primarily in forests and rainforests but have also been found in forest edge habitat and on and around farmlands. During they day they are usually found either perched or nesting at least 12 m above ground level in larger trees, usually on branches that are approximately 20 to 30 cm in diameter. At night they may move to lower perches, as low as 1.5 m above the ground, from which they hunt.
Range elevation: 35 to 2900 m.
Habitat Regions: tropical ; terrestrial
Terrestrial Biomes: forest ; rainforest
Other Habitat Features: agricultural
Because of the elusive nature of great potoos, little is known about their longevity and life span. The only documented mortalities were of unknown causes and in one instance a person had shot an adult from a tree.
Great potoos have relatively large heads in relation to their bodies. They have large eyes with a light brown to yellow iris and beaks that are short but broad, giving them a very large gape. In comparison to other Caprimulgiformes, the facial bristles are diminished to non-existent. They have elliptical wings with an elongate tail that aides in steering during noiseless landings on tree branches. The plumage is white to grayish with marbled black and burgundy tones. Tail coloration matches that of the body, with the exception of the 8 or 9 white bars that extend laterally across it.
Range mass: 360 to 650 g.
Range length: 480 to 600 mm.
Range wingspan: 700 to 804 mm.
Average wingspan: 734.8 mm.
Other Physical Features: endothermic ; homoiothermic; bilateral symmetry ; polymorphic
Sexual Dimorphism: sexes alike
Great potoos are relatively large birds with highly cryptic coloration. During the day great potoos remain relatively motionless, and upon disturbance completely freeze in increase vigilance. The known predators of great potoos include monkeys (Cebus, Ateles geoffroyi, and Alouatta palliata), tayras (Eira barbara), and collared forest falcons (Micrastur semitorquatus). Parents are present at the nest during the day and use their cryptic coloration to camouflage the nesting hole.
Known Predators:
Anti-predator Adaptations: cryptic
Great potoos are monogamous breeders with no dimorphism between the sexes. In fact, the sexes are so similar that time budgeting at the nest per sex has not been determined.
Mating System: monogamous
Nesting season in great potoos has been observed from June through August in Venezuela and November in Surinam (these are each the approximate wet seasons for those areas). Only one egg is laid per clutch, and little is known of the incubation period. Great potoos do not build nests, rather nests are simply deeper notches in larger branches of their roosting trees. Hatching in great potoos has not been well documented but only one parent is present at the nest per incubation. Weight at hatching is also questionable with the youngest observed nestling mortality weighing 220g. Time to fledging has been determined to be 55 days after hatching. Chicks develop quickly with body feathers appearing through down feathers approximately two weeks after hatching. Five weeks after hatching chicks are almost 2/3 the length of the parents. Chicks begin leaving the nest and investigating the nesting branch one month after hatching. After a month and a half adults no longer return during the day to tend to young. Instead the only interactions between parent and offspring are after dark, which probably includes feeding behavior. At just under two months offspring have usually left the nest without returning to roost during the day.
Breeding interval: Great potoos produce one egg per year, usually during the rainy season.
Breeding season: Breeding season occurs during the rainy season which varies by region in South America.
Average eggs per season: 1.
Average fledging age: 55 days.
Range time to independence: 1.5 to 2 months.
Key Reproductive Features: iteroparous ; seasonal breeding ; gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious (sexes separate); sexual ; oviparous
Both male and female great potoos incubate eggs at the nest during the day. During incubation it has been noted that at no point were both parents simultaneously at or around the nest. After the eggs have hatched both parents hunt at night and return to the nest to provision young with prey items. Provisioning continues until offspring have fully fledged and permanently leave the nest.
Parental Investment: altricial ; pre-fertilization (Provisioning, Protecting: Female); pre-hatching/birth (Provisioning: Female, Protecting: Male, Female); pre-weaning/fledging (Provisioning: Male, Female, Protecting: Male, Female); pre-independence (Provisioning: Male, Female, Protecting: Male, Female)
The great potoo or grand potoo (Nyctibius grandis) is the largest potoo species and is widely distributed in Central and South America.
Much like owls, this species is nocturnal. It preys on large insects and small vertebrates, which it captures in sallies from high perches.
Possibly its most well known characteristic is its unique moaning growl that the great potoo vocalizes throughout the night, creating an unsettling atmosphere in the Neotropics with its nocturnal sounds.[2]
The great potoo was formally described in 1789 by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in his revised and expanded edition of Carl Linnaeus's Systema Naturae. He placed it with all the nightjar like species in the genus Caprimulgus and coined the binomial name Caprimulgus grandis.[3] The great potoo is now one of the seven potoos placed in the genus Nyctibius that was introduced in 1816 by the French ornithologist Louis Jean Pierre Vieillot.[4][5] The genus name is from Ancient Greek nuktibios meaning "night-living", from nux "night" and bios "life".[6] The species is monotypic: no subspecies are recognised.[5]
The great potoo has a large head in relation to its body. The eyes are also very large with a brown to yellow iris and has a short but broad beak. Their wings are elliptical in shape and the tail is elongated. The feather colors vary with 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. (see references below)
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.[7]
In general the great potoo are distributed from humid to semi-humid forested habitats. While this species is widely spreadout geographically there is little to no variation in their appearance such as size or plumage.[2] The great potoo is found mostly in dense lowland forest, 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 above ground level within big trees. The branches they choose to perch usually are nearly 20 to 30 centimeters in diameter. At night time, they may go to lower perches 1.5 meters above the ground, from which they hunt.[8]
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 vertical on a post, roost, or angled-tree trunk.[9] Great potoos are shy and solitary creatures.
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.[10] The nest is a slight depression on a thick tree branch,[11] 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).[8] After about 5 weeks the nestling is a two-thirds version of the adult, but with a lighter build, paler plumage, shorter tail, and smaller bill with less rictal bristles. The fledging period must be at least 2 months. After this time span, the offspring do not return to the nest site.[8]
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.[12]
Their prey consists mostly of large flying insects, especially large beetles, katydids and Orthoptera (including crickets and grasshoppers). Bats and birds are taken occasionally as well. The great potoo takes advantage of the night and its natural camouflage by sitting on an exposed perch to wait until some prey flies by, at which point it darts out towards the prey and returns to the branch with it. Very often birds of this species will use the same hunting perch nightly.[13]
Due to its large range, the great potoo is seen as a species of least concern, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). The great potoo is normally described as "uncommon", but occurs frequently in areas of less disturbed forests and is often found to be rare along the edges of its range. The clearing of forest is the only conservation threat known to this bird.
The local people in the rural area of Brazil sometimes use potoo as a minor food source, as they do not offer much meat and are hard to locate. In these areas, their feathers are believed to have powers to provide chastity, so they are hunted down for their body parts, which are used to perform ceremonies. It is also believed that parts of their body ward off seduction. Potoos fear most locals due to being hunted.[2]
The great potoo or grand potoo (Nyctibius grandis) is the largest potoo species and is widely distributed in Central and South America.
Much like owls, this species is nocturnal. It preys on large insects and small vertebrates, which it captures in sallies from high perches.
Possibly its most well known characteristic is its unique moaning growl that the great potoo vocalizes throughout the night, creating an unsettling atmosphere in the Neotropics with its nocturnal sounds.
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