Common Potoo Costa Rica
by Joan Carroll
Title
Common Potoo Costa Rica
Artist
Joan Carroll
Medium
Photograph - Photography And Digital Art
Description
Our sharp-eyed guide on the Sierpe River in Costa Rica spied this common potoo (Nyctibius griseus) perched riverside high up in a tree. During the day, Common Potoos roost on snags, exposed branches or fenceposts, where their disruptive coloration helps them remain avoid detection and protect them from predators. It is said that they “spend most of their daylight hours imitating stumps or stubs of tree branches” It breeds in tropical Cantral and South America. It is 33–38 cm long and pale greyish to brown, finely patterned with black and buff, camouflaged to look like a log. Interestingly, Cornell Lab of Ornithology writes: “Although usually seen in an upright posture, when it is not alarmed it perches vertically but shorter and stouter, with its bill directed forward rather than upward. The moment it suspects its being watched however, it elongates its body, compresses its plumage, and raises its head, all so gradually that no movement is perceptible.” Looks to me like this one suspects we are watching!
joan carroll
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Uploaded
June 28th, 2018
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Viewed 2,715 Times - Last Visitor from New York, NY on 04/23/2024 at 1:00 AM
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