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Sam Woods | all galleries >> Galleries >> ECUADOR: Birds > Andean Potoo
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Andean Potoo

I had wanted to see one of these scarce potoos for a while, and traveling back from the Loreto Road I was passing the Guacamayos Ridge in darkness so decided to see if any nightjars or owls were calling. A brief silhouette of a male Swallow-tailed Nightjar disappearing into the forest led me to do a broad sweep with my spotlight which picked up some bright red eyeshine right beside the road. I lifted my bins to my eyes expecting it to produce a perched nightjar or owl at best and was frankly gobsmacked to find this potoo standing sentry by the roadside. The bird was hawking insects near a small shrine for the Virgin Mary, so many Ecuadorians were regularly stopping to pay their respects, but were soon distracted by what we were 'worshiping'. Pretty soon we found ourselves surrounded by a confused crowd of travelling Ecuadoreans, which made for a pretty surreal experience. The potoo remained in this area for some time afterward.


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