Birds of the World


Long-tailed Potoo (Nyctibius aethereus chocoensis) Range: SA: Amazonia and se SA Mutatá, Antioquia, Colombia The 'choco' race in Colombia, one of three, is browner than others.
Photograph by Tom Friedel © All Rights Reserved.


Long-tailed Potoo (Nyctibius aethereus aethereus) Range: SA: Amazonia and se SA REGUA, Cachoeiras de Macacu, RJ, Brazil
Photograph by Tom Friedel © All Rights Reserved.

Larger and browner than the Common Potoo, with a longer wider tail. Yellow eyes. Also has a light buff vertical shoulder patch about half length of wing.
Browner in evening light, with head horizontal.


Great Potoo (Nyctibius grandis) Range: MA, SA: s Mexico to Panama through South America to c Bolivia and sc, se Brazil Bahia Solano, Choco, Colombia
Photograph by Tom Friedel © All Rights Reserved.

Large: over half a meter from head to tail. Note light color and scary call heard at night.
At night.


Common Potoo (Nyctibius griseus) Range: MA, SA: Nicaragua to Uruguay Laguna Sonso, Buga, Colombia
Photograph by Tom Friedel © All Rights Reserved.

At around 35 cm., significantly smaller than the Long-tailed Potoo and Great Potoo. Has variation of color from reddish brown to greyish brown. Note bright yellow eye.
At night.


Northern Potoo (Nyctibius jamaicensis costaricensis) Range: MA, NA: Mexico to Costa Rica; Greater Antilles Cerro Grande, Belen de Carrillo, Guanacaste, Costa Rica
Photograph by Jorge Obando Gutierrez © Copyrighted, All Rights Reserved.


White-winged Potoo (Nyctibius leucopterus) Range: SA: Amazonia Brazil
Photograph by Ciro Albano - NE Brazil Birding © All Rights Reserved.

Very rare, local and poorly known.


Andean Potoo (Nyctibius maculosus) Range: SA: Venezuela to Bolivia Peru
Photograph by Dominic Sherony Copyright and usage info This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 Unported. In short: you are free to share and make derivative works of the file for non-commercial purposes under the conditions that you appropriately attribute it, and that you distribute it only under a license identical to this one.

Rare and local.