Common Potoo

Urutau - Tagschläfer ( Nyctibius griseus )

The Urutau - Tagschläfer ( Nyctibius griseus ) is a nocturnal bird found in Central and South America from tropical Mexico to Costa Rica to northern Argentina and into northern Uruguay. He is also to be found on the Caribbean islands of Jamaica and Hispaniola. As habitat it prefers open woods, forest edges and tree-lined, savannennähnliche terrain below 1200 m.

Features

Full grown achieve Urutau - Tagschläfer a height of 38 cm and weigh 230 g It is a large, powerful bird with gray-brown mottled plumage. The short beak can open to a huge maw. On Schnabel approach are bristles. His reputation is a POO -O -OU- OU, deep, clear, sad -sounding tones, the decrease in both height and volume. This reputation earned him the English name " Potoo ", and because of its large jaw and his sounding bright moon nights call he got from the locals called " Urutau " which could be translated as " ghosts mouth".

Behavior

Is unusual breeding behavior of Urutau - Tagschläfer. Between December and March, the Schwalme incubate a single, purple - spotted, white egg. The male bird sits in the day absolutely motionless with his eyes closed on the egg. His iris is bright orange and would betray his perfect disguise immediately. He considers the area, however carefully two different sized slots that run perpendicular to the eyelids. When it gets dark, the female incubates the egg. It keeps your eyes open - the only way the hatchery using a lamp to find at all. The male bird hunts at night by large flying insects. The owl like bird (he has not only round head like this one) has a nearly perfect fit to the underground camouflage. Whether he is sitting on a height Astgabelung in 3 to 18 m or on a fence post at 2 m without each well for the egg, it is impossible to tell when brooding. The head with the short beak is directed vertically upwards. He relies so much on his cover that he does not flee even when approaching a few centimeters. The bird then trembles before stress. Urutau - Tagschläfer are little researched and everywhere very rare. Due to their large distribution area but they are out on the red list only be low risk.