See new addendum below.
Reader Scott Ritchie photographed a bird in Costa Rica that I also saw there. It’s nearly invisible and was pointed out to us by a boatman. Scott’s captions are indented, and you can enlarge his photos by clicking on them:
A bird of the day from Costa Rica. The Great Potoo [Nyctibius grandis]. They are “related” to frogmouths, and certainly resemble them in looks and behaviour. They sit motionless atop branches, resembling a dead stump. And they have a bizarre nighttime call, ghost-like. Once thought by locals to be a spirit or ghost. At night, they take large insects on the wing.
Can you spot the potoo (an immature Great Potoo) in the 1st picture? I love the old stump festooned with bromeliads and orchids. Atop this the potoo surveys his paddock kingdom.
JAC: This is the most cryptic bird I’ve ever seen. Note that natural selection has molded not only its appearance but also its behavior: it sits motionless at the end of a branch, looking just like the end of the branch!
But wait! Scott sent two more pictures of a similar species with this caption:
For comparison, here are Papuan Frogmouths (Podargus papuensis) from Cairns (OLD photo). Note chick in first shot. They like sitting IN the forest in contrast to the Potoo.
Wonderful birds! When it sees a potential threat, it tilts its head up as in the last photo, and then when the threat goes away it relaxes and holds it head more horizontally.
No way – astonishing! So specific, but to the bird it makes complete sense! I just wonder if trees there break a particular way, and frequently… and the mosses/brown stuff growing on them…
This is wicked corny, but it’s like a symphony of biology… I mean, I don’t know a more intuitive way of putting it…
There are several species of potoo, each colored differently. One is rufous, some are brown, some are more white. They generally end up sitting in branches that look like them. Some like to sit low in the forest, others in the canopy, and each of these habitats have different colored branches. Presumably each species evolved to match the typical branches in their particular habitat, but maybe they also actively look for branches that match them.
Thanks for that insight!
Funny, I found two other lovely birds in the photo before I found the Potoo.
I also found a little blue one first.
Truly mind boggling and thrilling.