Northern Potoo
- Family
- Nyctibiidae
Where and when to see the Northern Potoo
DraftOn the Yucatán Peninsula
It lives in forest, second growth, mangroves and even towns with tall trees. By day it is almost impossible to spot; look for it at night, when it is active.
Where it’s reported most
- Poniente Ecological ParkMérida, Yucatán
- Becán and XpujilCalakmul, Campeche
- San GervasioCozumel, Quintana Roo
- Ruta de los CenotesPuerto Morelos, Quintana Roo
When
All year · most reports Apr–May
Most reports from April to May.
Reports relative to effort
- January: 43%
- February: 49%
- March: 63%
- April: 100%
- May: 82%
- June: 60%
- July: 37%
- August: 30%
- September: 34%
- October: 27%
- November: 46%
- December: 45%
Data: eBird and other datasets via GBIF.org (CC BY 4.0), 2015–2026 · Base map: Natural Earth
Spends the day pressed against a broken branch, indistinguishable from the wood, and only becomes a bird again after dark.
- Identification
- A big-headed night bird, 38–46 cm long, mottled grey-brown like bark, with a dark moustache stripe, huge yellow eyes and a tiny bill that opens into an enormous gape. By day it sits bolt upright and motionless on a branch or post.
- Voice
- A gruff, squalling “kwaaah, kwa-kwa”, heard most on moonlit nights. It sounds nothing like the mournful whistles of the Common Potoo further south.
What the photo doesn’t show
DraftTurning into a branch
When it senses danger, it slowly stretches upward, points its bill at the sky, half-closes its eyes and presses its feathers flat. In this pose it looks like a broken branch stub. 1,2,3
Embers in the dark
At night it perches on fence posts, low branches and utility poles, and in a flashlight beam its eyes glow like amber coals from far away. In some places it has learned to hunt the moths and beetles drawn to street lights. 1,4
Peepholes in its eyelids
Potoos have two small notches in the upper eyelid that stay open even when the eyes are shut. A researcher who studied them in Colombia suggested these peepholes let a resting bird keep watch for predators without moving. 2,3
A bird of ill omen
Among the Mopan Maya of southern Belize, a potoo flying over a house several times at night means someone in the family will die, so people chase it away with burning sticks. In Yucatán some still call it bruja (witch), and local press reports that people harm it for that reason. 5,6
Sources
- eBird: Northern Potoo (opens in a new tab)
- Borrero 1974, The Condor 76: 210 (opens in a new tab)
- Wikipedia: Potoo (opens in a new tab)
- Birds of the World (Cornell Lab): Northern Potoo (opens in a new tab)
- Hull & Fergus 2009: Birds and the Mopan Maya of Belize (opens in a new tab)
- Por Esto: Pájaro estaca en la carretera Mérida-Progreso (opens in a new tab)
- BirdLife International, Data Zone: Northern Potoo (opens in a new tab)
- IUCN Red List category, via GBIF: Nyctibius jamaicensis (opens in a new tab)
Map and months: 938 records from 2015–2026 from eBird and iNaturalist, via GBIF.org (CC BY 4.0), in 0.1° squares (about 10 km). eBird: doi.org/10.15468/aomfnb.
Months: the species’ records ÷ all bird records that month, scaled to the busiest month. It allows for birding effort; it is not the chance of seeing it. A blank square: few or no reports, not necessarily absent.
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