coalesce boastful dark eyes , a grandiloquent consistency , beautiful plumage that perfectly mirror a tree branch , an enormous lip , and a loud , terrifying call – what do you get ? It ’s time to meet the biggest ghost bird in South America .
The ghost bird in inquiry is actually a coinage known as the swell potoo ( Nyctibius grandis ) .
What is a ghost bird?
These doll look pretty funky . Theystandbetween 48 to 60 cm tall ( 18.9 to 23.6 inches ) with a 70 to 80 centimeter wingspan ( 27.6 to 31.4 inch ) and have an enormous mouth and large smutty eye . They also parade nosexual dimorphism , meaning the males and female person front very interchangeable .
They are often mistaken for owls , but though they are nocturnal and have excellent night visual sense thanks to those large oculus , they belong to a different radical .
rather , potoos belong to the taxonomic order Nyctibiiformes , though until2021 , they belonged to Caprimulgiformes , an parliamentary law that now just includes thenightjars . Within this order is the class Nyctibiidae , which has seven species in two genera ; the swell potoo belongs toNyctibius .
Expert insect catchers, the potoos have slits in their eyelids that allow them to sense movement even when asleep.Image credit: feathercollector/Shutterstock.com
Where do the ghost birds live?
Great potoos have a very large range and are found across South America include in Brazil , Columbia , Venezuela , and even further northward into Costa Rica , Nicaragua , Honduras , and Mexico . They are presently listed as Least care by theIUCN Red List , showing only a very small decline in population .
While these birds hunt at dawn , dusk , and through the dark in these regions , in the solar day , they are up to of sit still for recollective periods of prison term . The potoos often do this on tall tree stumps , which they intermix into with their camouflaged feathers . They even have a " freeze " present with their neck outstretched , helping them blend in even more with the tree .
Breeding and nests
Great potoosdo not build nestsbut instead consist a exclusive ballock in a deeper gap or Great Depression within a roosting branch . The chicks spend around a calendar month and a one-half being calculate after by their parents – who are monogamous stock breeder – but are usually amply autonomous by two months old .
What do great potoos sound like?
Great potoos are known for their vocalizations . BBC Science Focusdescribes their dissonance as “ moaning growling sounds like an angry fox gargling a Jägerbomb ” , whileBritannicasuggests that the cracking potoo “ belt out a distinct bawl that can disturb people unaccustomed to the nocturnal lifespan of the tropical forest . ”
The related to common potoo ( Nyctibius griseus ) is also found across much of Central and South America , and inPeruvian folklore , has a Song dynasty that is say to evidence the floor of a lose kid calling for its mother .
The pootoos are also related to a bird from North America hollo the whippoorwill , ( Caprimulgus vociferus ) , nominate as such because it can repeat its name400 timeswithout cease .
