The Common Potoo, Grey Potoo, Lesser Potoo or Poor-me-one Nyctibius griseus, is a nocturnal bird which breeds in tropical Central and South America
This potoo is a large cypselomorph related to the nightjars and frogmouths, but like other potoos it lacks the bristles around the mouth found in the true nightjars. It is 33–38 cm long and pale grayish to brown, finely patterned with black and buff, camouflaged to look like a log; this is a safety measure to help protect it from predators, but its mode of perch is also a camouflage. It has large orange eyes.
The Common Potoo can be located at night by the reflection of light from its eyes as it sits on a post, or by its haunting melancholic song, a BO-OU, BO-ou, bo-ou, bo-ou, bo-ou, bo-ou, bo-ou, bo-ou dropping in both pitch and volume.It has special disruptive coloration special so it camouflages into a branch.

When I saw it at Rancho Naturalista I thought it had to be one of the weirdest birds I have ever seen. The easiest part of the bird to see is its large tail. Its head is hard to distinguish. He sat on this tree during the late day. When we came to photograph him after dark he had left his perch. The flashlight picked him up on the top of the tree by the reflection from his eyes.

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