About Nyctibius maculosus Ridgway, 1912
The Andean potoo (Nyctibius maculosus Ridgway, 1912) is 34 to 40.5 cm (13 to 16 in) long. One measured male weighed 195 g (6.9 oz), and two measured females weighed 145 g (5.1 oz) and 185 g (6.5 oz). For males, the upperparts are brown, marked with white, buff, tawny, and black streaks, speckles, and spots. The median wing coverts are white, forming a broad visible stripe on the closed wing. The chin and throat are white or grayish white, with a cinnamon tint on the lower throat. The breast is brown, separated from the buffish upper belly and flanks by a buff or tawny band. The breast has blackish brown speckles, while the belly and flanks have brown bars and vermiculation. The lower belly is pale buff, cinnamon buff, or whitish, and marked with blackish brown streaks and spots. Females are lighter overall, with a more buffy or tawny base color, and their wing coverts are buff rather than white. The Andean potoo has been recorded at approximately a dozen sites along the Andes mountain chain, ranging from western Venezuela through Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru to western Bolivia. This patchy known distribution could either reflect that the species is truly restricted to local areas, or result from challenges detecting it: it has cryptic camouflage, is nocturnal, and occurs in areas with few resident ornithologists. Most individuals are found at elevations between roughly 1,800 and 2,800 m (5,900 and 9,200 ft). The lowest documented elevation for the species is 1,400 m (4,600 ft), and the highest is 3,200 m (10,500 ft). It lives in the canopy of both the interior and edges of humid montane forest.
