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Amazing Potoo Bird
If you’ve ever traveled to Amazing Potoo Bird you’ve probably seen the weird, bark-like creatures known as potoo birds. These nocturnal insectivores come in seven species within the Nyctobiidae family and are native to the rainforests of Latin America. They blend into the trees by day and stealthily hunt at night. They are masters at camouflage and it’s incredibly difficult to spot one of them in the wild.
The Amazing Potoo Bird: Masters of Camouflage and Nighttime Marvels
During the day these cryptic insectivores rest perched upright on tree stumps, their cryptic plumage blending them into the wood, or they can adopt what is called a freeze position where they remain completely motionless and resemble a dead branch even more. They can see a predator approaching, however, through small openings in their eyelids. Then they swoop down, grabbing beetles, moths, and termites with their massive mouths. They also have a keen sense of smell, and they can hear with their feet.
It is thought that the eerie call of the Common Potoo Bird has inspired folklore in the Amazonian region, like the story of two children abandoned by their mother who then become the moon and a potoo bird, eternally calling to the love they can never reach. Their haunting call has also been compared to the owl-like scream of a bat.
During the night, they hunt by soaring through the skies and catching flying insects in their enormous mouths. It’s a solitary life for these wide-eyed creatures, though, as they only mate with other potoo birds and are typically monogamous.
