Plate 011 · at night on a dead snag, with a moth IdentificationFive marks on the plate
- 1Huge yellow eyes that shine in torchlight.
- 2Tiny bill but a very wide gape.
- 3Mottled grey-brown plumage, like bark.
- 4Row of black spots across the lower breast.
- 5Long barred tail pressed against the snag.
Easily confused with NightjarsCaprimulgidaeThey sit on the ground or lengthwise on branches, not upright on tips. Great PotooNyctibius grandisLarger and whitish. In the northeast of the country, not Tucumán. 011 / 100 · BIRDS · NYCTIBIIDAELEAST CONCERN Common Potoo
Nyctibius griseus
Urutaú común · Kakuy
By day it sits motionless on the tip of a broken stump and passes for just another branch. At night it opens huge eyes and sallies out to catch moths in flight. Its sad, falling song is the source of the kakuy legend of northern Argentina.
- Length
- c. 33 – 38 cm
- Altitude
- c. 400 – 1,200 m
- Clutch
- 1 egg, no nest
- Activity
- Nocturnal
- Nocturnal
- Camouflage
- Kakuy legend
- Partial migrant
Altitude rangeA bird of the lower forest
Foothill and lower montane forest In Tucumán it is recorded in foothill forest and at the edge of montane forest. In Argentina part of the population moves north in winter.
FoodA night-time aerial hunter
- Mothsmain prey
- Beetlesnight-flying
- Other flying insectscicadas, bugs, winged termites
It flies out from its perch, snaps the insect up in its huge gape and returns to the same spot.
BehaviourA branch with eyes
- Branch pose. When alarmed it stretches up and points its bill skyward, still as a stump.
- Hunts at night. Uses fixed perches and makes short sallies after insects.
- A single egg. Laid in a crack at the tip of a broken branch, with no nest at all.
Where to look in Tucumán- Sierra de San Javier
- Reserva Experimental Horco Molle
- Burruyacú (Proyecto Seamos Bosques)
- Parque Provincial La Florida