With perfect camouflage and an ugly appearance, the Potoo bird is often referred to as the “messenger of hell.” The bird’s entirely black eyes have frightened many people at first glance.
In the rich and diverse biological world, the emergence of each new species always fuels humanity’s curiosity.
Just yesterday, a strange bird with an extraterrestrial appearance appeared on the social media platform Reddit, captivating the attention of many users in this online community.
The strange bird with terrifying eyes
According to the owner of the photos, this peculiar bird was discovered in the suburbs of a town in Venezuela. Although its appearance is not much different from other birds, it possesses a pair of frighteningly glossy black eyes.
The bird believed to resemble the Potoo
Most opinions suggest that with its round head and wide beak, this is likely a Potoo, a bird closely related to the Nightjar family. However, the Potoo’s eyes typically have yellow irises and prominent black pupils, which differ from the haunting eyes of the bird in the photo. Therefore, some have suggested that this might just be a puppet of a Potoo set up by someone to attract attention.
Portrait of the Potoo bird
However, unlike the Potoo or shy birds we are familiar with, this alien-like bird has horrified many upon sighting.
Potoos primarily inhabit the northern regions of South America. The name of this peculiar bird comes from the mournful wailing sounds it produces. During the day, they prefer to stand still on branches or dead tree stumps, with their grayish-brown plumage resembling rough tree bark, allowing them to camouflage easily and blend in with their surroundings, making it difficult for predators to detect them. Because they are so hard to find, scientists are often lucky to encounter Potoos, and there are not many photographs of them available today.
Potoos belong to the Nyctibiidae family, which includes two genera: Nyctibius and Phyllaemulor. There are seven different Potoo species distributed across Mexico, Central America, South America, and the Caribbean. Despite having large eyes and being nocturnal, they are not closely related to owls, according to ABC Bird.
Potoos can range in length from 20 to nearly 60 cm, depending on the species. In addition to their oversized eyes, their main features include a large head, short neck, long body, and small curved beak. While they are concentrated in Central and South America today, they once had a much broader distribution. Fossils of Potoos from the Eocene epoch, dating back 34 to 56 million years, have been found in France and Germany.
Unfortunate Potoo – no one is top 1 anymore!
Potoos are among the few bird species where both males and females take responsibility for their marital life, taking turns incubating the eggs and caring for the chicks after they hatch. They are quite lazy, preferring to “sit back and enjoy the fruits of others”, so they do not bother to build nests but lay their eggs in a depression on a branch or a decaying tree stump. Potoo eggs are white with brownish-purple spots, and the chicks will hatch after about 30 days of incubation.
Potoos are solitary hunters at night, and their diet mainly consists of insects such as grasshoppers and beetles; occasionally, they even add bats to their menu. With their enormous beaks, comparable to the size of a bomb crater, they can detect prey as quickly as owls and hunt very efficiently.
Potoo loves to camouflage with the trees. Can you find me?
The mouth of this bird resembles a black hole, and the Potoo’s haunting wail leaves a lasting impression on anyone who has encountered them.
Potoos live in tropical forests and high grasslands. They enjoy hunting from branches that extend outward, waiting for potential prey to come close before swooping down to catch it with their wide-open beaks. Their long wings and tails help them maintain balance while chasing prey through the trees.
Each Potoo species has its unique call. The sounds of Potoos vary widely from the booming calls of the Great Potoo to the melodious songs of the Common Potoo or the shrill cries of the Northern Potoo. The Northern Potoo was once considered a subspecies of the Common Potoo, but the two species are actually distinct partly due to their different calls.
Currently, knowledge about the Potoo bird is still quite limited, which is why they are classified as rare species. Perhaps their meat is not particularly special, so no one hunts Potoos!
