Designed by Paul Smith 2006. This website is copyrighted by law.
Material contained herewith may not be used without the prior written permission of FAUNA Paraguay.
Material on this page was provided by Paul Smith, Rob Clay, Pedro Hostettler, Sjeff Ollers, Nelson Pérez, Marcelo Bombaci
and Arne Lesterhuis and Huguito Cabral and is used with permission.
COMMON POTOO Nyctibius griseus
The famous Urutaú, its call a wailing lament, is one of the most haunting sounds of the Paraguayan night. This nocturnal bird closely related to the Nightjars (Caprimulgidae) is truly one of the strangest members of the Paraguayan avifauna. By day he poses on a broken tree stump with eyes closed and head raised, his remarkable camouflage rendering him invisible to all but the keenest eyes, by night he merges to hunt moths and insects flying from a prominent perch.
Click on the images to enlarge them.
FIGURE 1 - Adult lateral, PN Médanos del Chaco, Departamento Boquerón (Marcelo Bombaci October 2007).
FIGURE 2 - Adult ventral, Aguara Ñu, Mbaracayú Forest Reserve (Rob Clay November 1997).
FIGURE 3 - Adult, Itabó Itaipú Reserve, Departamento Alto Paraná (Paul Smith September 2006).
FIGURE 4 - Adult roosting dorsal view, Aguara Ñu, Mbaracayú Biosphere Reserve, Departamento Canindeyú (Arne Lesterhuis undated).
FIGURE 5 - Upperwing same individual (Paul Smith November).
FIGURE 6 - Adult and nestling at nest, PROCOSARA PN San Rafael (Pedro Hostettler undated).
FIGURE 7 - Adult dorsal, Itabó Itaipú, Departamento Alto Paraná (Nelson Pérez October 2009).
FIGURE 8 - Adult lateral, PN San Rafael, Departamento Itapúa (Sjeff Ollers October 2009).
FIGURE 9 - Adult, Estancia Laguna Blanca, Departamento San Pedro (Paul Smith November).
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Nyctibius griseus
1 song recorded PROCOSARA PN San Rafael (Paul Smith January 2009).
Click the link to hear the call. Longer versions of this call can be downloaded from the Paraguay page of our partner website Xeno-Canto - the largest collection of freely downloadable Neotropical bird calls available online.