Great Potoo Identification Guide

Key Field Marks

• Size & shape: Large for a potoo, 48–60 cm (19–24 in), with a big head, huge wide gape, very short weak legs, and a long tail; overall bulky, upright silhouette when perched.
• Plumage: Intricately mottled gray, brown, and whitish, closely mimicking lichen-covered or broken bark — exceptional camouflage that makes daytime birds extremely difficult to spot even when perched in the open.
• Eyes: Enormous yellow eyes adapted for night vision; produce a strong orange-red eyeshine when caught in a spotlight or flashlight beam at night, the most reliable way to locate one after dark.
• Bill: Short and stubby but capable of an enormous gape used to snap up prey in flight.
• Behavior: By day, roosts motionless in an upright posture on a bare branch or stub, bill pointed skyward, eyes narrowed to slits, relying entirely on camouflage to avoid detection. At night, becomes an active aerial hunter, sallying from a perch to catch large flying insects and occasionally bats, then returning to the same perch.

Separating Great Potoo from Similar Species

• Common Potoo: Considerably smaller and slimmer, with a more slender build and a different, softer, descending wailing song.
• Long-tailed Potoo: Smaller with a proportionally much longer tail and different, more patterned plumage.
• Nightjars: Smaller overall, with more pointed wings, a tiny bill, and typically a different, flatter roosting posture (usually along a branch rather than upright on a stub).

Where & When to See One

Great Potoos are resident year-round in lowland tropical forest, forest edge, and gallery forest from southern Mexico and Central America through much of Amazonian South America. They favor tall trees with open, bare branches for daytime roosting and nighttime hunting perches. Best located after dark using a spotlight to pick up their bright eyeshine, then confirmed by their distinctive call; by day, experienced guides can sometimes pick out a roosting bird by its telltale silhouette against the sky.

Voice

A deep, guttural, far-carrying roar or growl, often rendered as "BWAAAAAAAH," descending in pitch — one of the eerier sounds of the neotropical night and quite unlike typical bird vocalizations.