The Story
The Great Potoo (Nyctibius grandis) spends the day perfectly still, its bark-patterned plumage making it look like part of the branch it sits on. I found this one in Restrepo, Meta, Colombia, a few blocks from the town’s central park during an urban photo walk. Restrepo sits on the first slopes above the llanos, just north of Villavicencio, where Lettered Aracaris and Gilded Barbets also move through the fruiting trees.
I used a Canon R5 with the RF 800mm f/11 plus the RF 1.4x extender for this one, at 1/180 sec, f/16, ISO 1600, −0.5 EV. Birds like this living a few streets from a town square are a good reason to protect the trees we share with them.
©2025 Adam Rainoff Photographer
The bird
The Great Potoo (Nyctibius grandis) belongs to the family Nyctibiidae (Potoos) in the eBird/Clements taxonomy.
Source: eBird.org (opens in a new tab)
Conservation
Least Concern on the IUCN Red List (assessment published 2020), with the population trend listed as decreasing. Source: IUCN Red List
