Returning in the dark from a boat trip along the Rio La Tovara near San Blas on the Pacific Coast of Mexico, there were lots of snags—dead or dying trees without a top—and most held a Northern Potoo (Nyctibius jamaicensis). Instead of sitting motionless on the trunk as they do all day these birds were awake on on the lookout for large flying insects.
What I had not realised is that these birds sit with their very large eyes pointed upwards. They were clearly looking for large insects flying above them thus mounting their ambush from below rather than from above.
The Northern Potoo occurs from Mexico to Costa Rica in Central America, together with some Caribbean islands including, as the specific name implies, Jamaica.
Their entire lives are spent on branches or in the air. A single egg is laid on a bare broken branch and the young is cared for there by both parents.
