As darkness falls, when owls and bats fly out in search of food, a rare and almost unknown animal also begins to hunt.

This is the Great Gray Nightjar (Great Potto), an unusual bird that is difficult to see. One of the reasons for its unique camouflage is its coloring in gray and brown tones, almost identical to tree trunks. The nightjar sleeps in a position that looks very uncomfortable.

The bird's camouflage is so perfect that it simply blends into the tree, resembling a real broken branch.

Nature has achieved such a high degree of perfection in this bird that its eyelids have structures resembling curtains, which form small holes when closed. This allows the gigantic nightjar to see everything around it even while sleeping.

At night the bird displays its majesty with its 1-meter wingspan in silent flight

This nocturnal predator is often mistaken for an owl. The bird's beak is huge for its size and extends beyond eye level, which makes it good at catching insects in flight. The nightjar also feeds on small birds and bats.

The bird belongs to the Nyctibiidae family. Three species of this family are found in Brazil: the great potto ( Nyctibius Grandis) , regular potto ( Nyctibius griseus) and long-tailed potto ( Nyctibius aethereus) . In addition, the giant gray nightjar can be found in Argentina and Paraguay, Southern Mexico and the Antilles.

Only a few people have seen this bird in the wild because of its amazing camouflage. Most likely, this is why there are many legends about this unusual bird. According to one legend, the sounds that the nightjar makes are messages from the kingdom of the dead, bringing good luck to friends or bad luck to enemies.

According to another legend, an Indian woman suffered from unrequited love. Her pain was so severe that the girl turned into a gigantic nightjar. Allegedly, after the transformation, the unfortunate woman is doomed to live in a tree, drift through the night forest in the light of the moon and sing about her sad love.

Another legend says that the bird is an orphan boy who misses his parents and cries every night because of their loss. Some legends say that nightjar feathers are talismans of love.

There are many legends that give the impression that the gigantic nightjar is a magical bird.

She can sing quite restrainedly and scream loudly at night, and the scream resembles a call of danger.

The giant wood nightjar is a South American species of bird belonging to the order Nightjars.

Nightjars got their strange name because they have the habit of hunting insects near sheep, cows or goats, deftly flying between the hooves or under the belly of the animals.

Appearance of a gigantic forest nightjar

The giant gray nightjar is a large bird, reminiscent in appearance of European nightjars.

The body length of the gigantic nightjar can reach 55 cm, and the weight can reach up to 230 g. The wingspan is about 125 cm, the tail - up to 27 cm, and the wing - up to 40 cm.

The plumage is mostly gray and has black stripes and spots. The bird's legs are very short and its tail is long. In general, nightjars are a fairly large group of birds, which are widespread in various regions of the globe (mainly tropical and subtropical) and are nocturnal. In contrast to the gigantic forest nightjar, the majority of species weigh only about one hundred grams, and only the largest representatives of this order can reach the size of a rook and weigh up to four hundred grams.

Both female and male nightjars are colored the same. At the same time, the coloring of nightjars does not differ in variety and very much resembles the color of the bark of a particular tree. In the upper part of the body, the plumage is dotted on a black and white background with dark and very thin transverse lines in the shape of zigzags. The ends of the feathers have rusty-brown edges. There are also dark rod stripes.

The legs of the gigantic forest nightjar are yellowish-gray, the eyes are dark brown, and the beak is gray with a yellowish-horny tint.

One of the characteristic features of the nightjar is a short beak of very large width, which has bristle-like vibrissae at the corners of the mouth, which are a kind of adaptation for catching insects on the fly at night.

The nightjar's eyes are very sensitive and large in size, which is also associated with a nocturnal lifestyle, as is the loose, soft plumage like an owl.

Nightjars are excellent flyers; they have pointed long wings with ten or, somewhat less commonly, eleven flight feathers. The tail is also long and has six pairs of tail feathers.

Flying nightjars have a noticeable resemblance to hawks and somewhat less to swallows.

The nightjar's legs are short and, once on the ground, their movements are characterized by low speed and clumsiness. They mostly move along the ground in awkward, slow hops. In the area of ​​the upper tail, the gigantic nightjar has powders that produce powdery fluff.

Distribution of the gigantic forest nightjar

It is assumed that this bird is found in all forests of the South American continent. In any case, it was possible to catch it both in Paraguay and in Cayenne. Apparently, this bird is more common than was commonly thought, but it is very difficult to see it during the day, and it is not easy to do so at night. Moreover, nightjars have mastered the art of camouflage to perfection. The plumage, similar to the color of tree bark, reliably protects it from the eyes of enemies, and at the same time from the eyes of ornithologists. The gigantic gray nightjar is even more difficult to spot because of its ability to remain motionless for long periods of time.

Behavior of the gigantic forest nightjar

According to the observations of ornithologists, the gigantic forest nightjar chooses the ends of dried branches as a place for its sitting. At the same time, he sits down so that his head hangs further than the end of the branch, making the branch seem longer than it actually is. However, despite this or, conversely, because of this, it is extremely difficult to notice the bird. However, if you still managed to notice the nightjar, then you can get the sleeping bird almost without effort, unless it has climbed too high to rest.

From the notes of ornithologists it is known that the inhabitants of Paraguay catch the gigantic forest nightjars at noon, throwing a noose over their heads and pulling them from the tree. There are also references that at this time of day nightjars may not even react to the sound of a shot. Moreover, it was sometimes impossible to drive the nightjar away from its chosen resting place, even after ruffling its feathers with a shot. Some nightjars were knocked off the branches by simply throwing a stone or even a stick at it. At the same time, a nightjar driven from its place can easily return to its favorite place after some time, without fear of a second attack.

At dusk, this bird behaves completely differently. At this time of day, the gigantic forest nightjar is as active and dexterous as other nightjars.

However, there are reports that gigantic nightjars can hunt during the daytime, acting as follows: from time to time the bird opens its mouth, thereby luring flies, which willingly land on the sticky mucous membrane. And when the number of insects became large enough, the nightjar closed its mouth and swallowed the prey. After some time, the hunt resumed, but the bird's eyes remained closed all the time. However, when the observer touched the bird, it immediately flew away.

A hunting gigantic forest nightjar sits on the ground very rarely, but if this does happen, then they can, spreading their wings, lean on them, as well as on their tail, almost without the help of their legs. Nightjars are especially active in moonlight. At night, they sometimes emit prolonged calling calls, clear and deep, decreasing in both volume and height.

Reproduction of the gigantic forest nightjar

There is only one egg in a nightjar's nest. The chicks are born fully sighted and dressed in thick motley down, which perfectly camouflages the chick in the nest. The only element that gives the chick away is the white egg shell. However, it is thanks to him that the parents manage to find their offspring in the dark forest. The chick flies on its wings after a few weeks, but its parents continue to feed it for some time.

Diet of the gigantic forest nightjar

The main food of the gigantic forest nightjar is various insects, which it hunts at night, just as flycatchers do. That is, for some time he sits on a protruding branch, and then, taking off for prey, he returns back to his observation post.

Its diet consists mainly of butterflies, Orthoptera, Hymenoptera and other invertebrates.

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I don't like birds. They are strange: they walk on two legs, and even fly, and their eyes are on the sides of their heads, so you don’t understand what they are thinking about. You can’t look them in the eye, you can only look them in the eye. One.
But the gigantic gray nightjar is almost not even a bird. This is some kind of gloomy chthonic... You just look at it and you no longer want to sleep, eat, or reproduce.

There are several species of gray nightjars. They live in Central and South America and the Caribbean. Almost nothing is known about them. It is difficult to find them in nature. Because these creatures are well camouflaged. Nightjars have plumage such that it merges with the bark of the tree. During the day they sit on trees and pretend to be branches and stumps. They close their eyes, lift their heads, freeze, and so they sleep. Try to distinguish it from the branch. Nightjars have vertical slits on their eyelids. The eyes are closed, but the bird sees everything - like opening curtains.

You’re walking through the forest and you see a stump with a broken branch sticking out on it. You approach, and suddenly this branch has completely otherworldly eyes and a mouth up to the back of the head. You can have a stroke. Moreover, the gray nightjar, if it pretends to be a branch, will no longer fly away. He is one hundred percent sure: no one will see him. Nightjar himself thinks that he is a branch. And if you stumble upon him, he will never open his eyes, he will only tremble from stress:
- How so? Don't you see? I'm a branch!
And you are standing opposite, and you are also trembling, because it is a creepy bird.

The nightjar hunts large insects and mice at night. And I’ll tell you: God forbid you see such a monster in the darkness. At night, the nightjar also screams so infernally that the Indians consider its cries to be signals from the world of the dead. Such zoological, esoteric SMS messages. Supposedly they bring good to friends and evil to enemies. The truth is, you can guess who is saying hello to you from the other world - a friend or an enemy.
It’s better not to walk at night where nightjars fly, in short.

There is also a legend that an Indian girl, unable to withstand the torments of unrequited love, turned into a whippoorwill. This is completely strange. As far as I know, women usually turn into chickens or crows from unrequited love. Personally, I have never encountered unrequited love, and I don’t know what this painful thing is. I think I would have turned into a roc and eaten the head off the one who dared not love me.

But the Indians have their own traditions, the girl turned into such a scarecrow, and now she scares people at night. This is how desperate you have to be to turn into something like this. I don’t think it helped her: it’s unlikely that any man would like a nightjar.

The Indians also believe that nightjar feathers are talismans of love. Somehow this is illogical: the feeling was unrequited. The Indians catch nightjars very simply: they approach during the day when the nightjar thinks that it is a branch, and simply knock it out of the tree with a stick. Then they pull the feathers out of the tail for good luck and let it go. So don’t be surprised if you meet a tailless nightjar in South America: but someone might be lucky in love.

Nightjars got their name because they love to hunt near herds of goats or sheep. There are a lot of insects there, and nightjars dive under the bellies of the animals. And the Indians thought the birds wanted to milk the goats. That's how things are.

Ecology

At nightfall, when owls and bats fly out in search of food, a rare and almost unknown animal also begins to hunt.

This is the Great Gray Nightjar (Great Potto), an unusual bird that is difficult to see. One of the reasons for its unique camouflage is its coloring in gray and brown tones, almost identical to tree trunks.

The nightjar sleeps in a position that looks very uncomfortable.

The bird's camouflage is so perfect that it simply merges with the tree resembling a real broken branch.

Nature has achieved such a high degree of perfection in this bird that its eyelids have structures resembling curtains, which form small holes when closed. This allows the gigantic nightjar to see everything around it even while sleeping.

At night the bird presents its greatness 1 meter wingspan in quiet flight.

This nocturnal predator is often mistaken for an owl. The bird's beak is huge for its size and extends beyond eye level, which makes it good at catching insects in flight. The nightjar also feeds on small birds and bats.

The bird belongs to the Nyctibiidae family. Three species of this family are found in Brazil: great potto ( Nyctibius Grandis) , ordinary potto ( Nyctibius griseus) And long-tailed potto ( Nyctibius aethereus) . In addition, the giant gray nightjar can be found in Argentina and Paraguay, Southern Mexico and the Antilles.

Only a few people have seen this bird in the wild because of its amazing camouflage. Most likely, this is why there are many legends about this unusual bird. According to one legend, the sounds that a nightjar makes are messages from the kingdom of the dead, bringing good luck to friends or bad luck to enemies.

According to another legend Indian woman suffered from unrequited love. Her pain was so severe that the girl turned into a gigantic nightjar. Allegedly, after the transformation, the unfortunate woman is doomed to live in a tree, drift through the night forest in the light of the moon and sing about her sad love.

Another legend says that the bird is an orphan boy, who misses his parents and cries every night for their loss.