Order
Caprimulgiformes
Family
Nyctibiidae
Genus
Nyctibius
 
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Version 1.0

This is a historic version of this account.  Current version

SPECIES

Northern Potoo Nyctibius jamaicensis

Daniel Gu, Robert A. Behrstock, and Thomas S. Schulenberg
Version: 1.0 — Published March 21, 2014

Sounds and Vocal Behavior

Vocalizations

The distinctive song of Northern Potoo is described as a "rough, squalling kwaaah, kwa-kwa-kwa" (Stiles and Skutch 1989); as "deep, guttural, slightly eerie ... wahhrrr wah-wah or bwaahhhr, ah-ah; at a distance, only the firt part [is] audible" (Howell and Webb 1995); and as "a series of 3-6 deep, guttural kwah notes, the first being more drawn-out than the rest, i.e., kwaah, kwah, kwah, kwah" (Cleere 1998).

For a representative audio recording with sonogram, see audio

Most authors have focused their attention on the striking differences between the harsh song of Northern Potoo and the mellow, descending song of Common Potoo (Nyctibius griseus); and some have pointed out similarities between the song of Northern Potoo and the harsh song of Great Potoo (Nyctibius grandis). Few authors have considered geographic variation with the songs of different populations of Northern Potoo. Davis (1978) reported that the song of abbotti differed from that of nominate jamaicensis in that "each buzz is closely preceded by a very short voiced sound figure; there are usually eight or more of the short buzzes instead of a maximum of four as in N. jamaicensis [including lambi and mexicanus] and the resonance bar on which these short buzzes are emphasized, slopes upward so that the apparent pitch goes up several hundred Hz".

Northern Potoo also gives "an abrupt, emphatic rrah!" (Stiles and Skutch 1989) and "a barking alarm call" (Cleere 1998).

Additional audio recordings of vocalizations of Northern Potoo can be heard at Macaulay Library and at xeno-canto.

Nonvocal Sounds

None reported.

Recommended Citation

Gu, D., R. A. Behrstock, and T. S. Schulenberg (2014). Northern Potoo (Nyctibius jamaicensis), version 1.0. In Neotropical Birds Online (T. S. Schulenberg, Editor). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/nb.norpot1.01