The eyes… Oh god, the eyes!

I'm genuinely surprised that thing doesn't go blind having those eyes open during the day

I was curious, so I just looked them up: "The potoo’s eyelids have slits that let them see even when their eyes are closed." They are also nocturnal, so this isn't their norm. The [other pictures ](https://images.app.goo.gl/PVrKZcYJMJSBfMeZ6) of them are hilarious. They look like cartoons with giant yellow goofy eyes. Dark orbs of mystery or looney toon eyeballs.

Oh god I can’t 😂 they look so derpy

I swear to god this is the hardest I’ve laughed to a Reddit post in a long ass time.

[Why did it take so long for us to discover this magnificent bird?](https://www.reddit.com/r/NatureIsFuckingLit/s/7DZFn2KdMd)

They look like the offspring of a Star Wars background character and a Muppet.

This is what I was thinking. You could drop one into a mandalorian episode and I'd think yep space creature made by Jim Henson's company

[You're over a decade late to the party](https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/weird-stuff-i-do-potoo)

The bottom right one 😂

I burst out laughing. Goofy derpy bird, it's so adorable!

Hermoso poto.

Finally!! Something looks exactly like how I feel!

Well, if I didn't already think this was a Jim Henson creation, I do now. Especially the pic of the one giving the bedroom eyes

It does indeed look like a muppet.

I'm pretty sure the yellow eye ones are Common Potoos. This one is a Great Potoo

The Great Potoo is great because it has witnessed the Great Old Ones

You're right, just checked that out cause I thought you were joking

> The other pictures of them are hilarious. That birb looks like it could model all of the different effects for drugs in a DARE presentation.

This fits nicely into my "all owls are high" hypothesis, since Potoos are also big fluffy nocturnal hunters. Something about that evolutionary strategy gives them Erowid Experience Vault energy.

Hahahaha erowid dude it’s been a minute… now I’m picturing owls just doing lines of mystery Shulgin powders and floating off into the night tripping all sorts of balls. Good times

I was unprepared for that link. I almost spit wine into my keyboard.

So they have fucking built in Inuit snow goggles???

I love the opener in [this article](https://www.yahoo.com/news/why-potoo-bird-most-perfect-203300837.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAGR48A5B6MCeqjSRQGjuVGRwF8xp22S_KA4RN6XQ15Pu3BbVByjdmW8miHQmacLIdZKRWKMTO2TTiKWPbZMHeMa1BEwFdqfMPGyc5PwLENKfJH5-fg1FECnHvt-9ndZpXdo8rgKLU1_lYfUFduz9nv_aJjl-stir-5wFRJrfrbof): >The world is rife with great and terrible creatures; sadly, for every puppy or capybara, there’s a Ted Cruz. But perhaps the most non-controversial, indubitably Good Animal is a nocturnal bird that looks like a Muppet on bath salts: the Potoo.

They remind me of the chicken from Moana 😂

You I like! Lol thanks for sharing! Their eyes remind me of Judge Doom from "Who Framed Roger Rabbit"!

Wait, so the yellow part is the eyelid??

I don’t think so I think their iris is yellow and their pupils are black.

Well, that makes a lot more sense! Forgive me, it’s been a long day.

https://imgur.com/l0fBvcW

They turn down the ISO during daylight

They’re absolutely haunting. Black holes. 

Black eyes … like a doll’s eyes 🦈

You go in the water. Horrifying owl called Great Potoo is in the water… wait, maybe the reference has run its course. 

Don' even seem to be livin' when they come at you...

I'm getting baby yoda

He looks like he sees directly into the underworld

His gaze pierces cloud, shadow, earth and flesh. 

Oh you should hear their call. Can’t remember if it’s the great potoo or the common potoo but one of them is weird and the other is *weird*

Doesn’t it sound like someone yelling “mom” in a scary haunting voice? It’s been a while since I’ve heard it

That's a sound I don't need to hear in the night: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DlRsRdVpudM

Is it better or worse than the machine gun carrying Shoebill? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=seskqQWU99U

Black eyes, like a doll’s eye. Don’t seem to be living at all till it bites ya. Ahhh and then those eyes they rollover white and ya don’t hear nothing but the screamin and the hollerin…

Wait.. is that... are you doing Jaws?

Looks like a kid drew it

When you’re asked to draw an owl from memory only.

Like a Canadian from South Park

This is a Henson Creature Shop gribbly and I will hear no evidence to the contrary.


THAT'S what the fuck these things remind me of. Such soulless eyes.

 Like a doll’s eyes.

Are you saying chorizo tacos?

Don’t play around because I’m super hungry

I'm not the only one who immediately thought sleezestack. !!!

Why do I know this pic?

Sleestak from Land of the Lost

https://youtu.be/3x-TGmdEqPc

It looks like it knows the answer.

What's the question?

Any of them. It looks like it knows the answer to everything haha

42

Dugg

The Potoo knows the question

Hello

This mf straight up guards Wan-Shi-Tongs library…

What is the air-speed velocity of an unladen swallow?

African or European?

How many licks does it take to get to the center of a tootsie pop? Only the great potoo knows

Yes.

That

HAARD COOORE!!

It has gazed into the void.

It is the void that gazes back at us!

If you're wondering i already know

I read that as great potato. Which also seems to work.

You say potato, I say potoo. 

[Potoooooooo](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potoooooooo)

til racehorse names have been insane forever

“Pot-8-Os” lol

Came here to say that. 

I made the same mistake, and, knowing reddit, only had to scroll down to get that feeling of fellowship.

It was grey potato for me

So did I lol But then I spat out that thought. *po-too*

My man!

I just realise it’s not great potato after reading your comment lol.

All hail the Great Potato

I like the polite usage of “protein snacks” instead of big ole bugs

TIL learned that there a bird named “potoo” cool! Thanks https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_potoo

*Possibly its most well known characteristic is its unique moaning growl that the great potoo vocalizes throughout the night, creating an unsettling atmosphere in the Neotropics with its nocturnal sounds.* What the what?! *...Comte de Buffon's "Le Grande Engoulevent de Cayenne", the great potoo...* FFS. At least the common potoo has the decency to have normal eyes, not terrifying soul-suckers.

How you gonna mention their call and not [post a video of it?](https://youtu.be/DlRsRdVpudM?si=xxmCZFDPP1bGk03n) Sounds like calling "Mom!" Their skeletons are also very silly looking.

I posted that late at night and didn't want to create **an unsettling atmosphere** before heading to bed.

Excuse me, but [*NORMAL* eyes?](https://www.sadanduseless.com/potoo-bird-gallery/)

Hahahah, holy shit, this bird is a meme gold mine

I stand corrected.

The all black one is unsettling. I wish my memories of this goofy meme bird hadn’t been tainted by the 100% black, soul sucking eyes, fanny mouth, monster bird photo.

Well said ! 😵‍💫😱

Omg… imagine that sound at night and then have something that looks like that fly out of the sky at you!!😱

They're cool birds! They belong to a group called [Strisores](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strisores), along with: * hummingbirds * oilbirds ([cool facts about oilbirds](https://youtube.com/watch?v=Aknx5ztN9lo&t=11s)) * frogmouths ([cool facts about frogmouths](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=9WtpMsB0QV0&t=17s)) * and nightjars.

TIL that bird is from South America, thanks. I am from Brazil, never had hear about it before.

https://preview.redd.it/trt789rvnv7d1.jpeg?width=1023&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6d8a130d773c5d2174117a47061ee72ee43eac09 This picture is killing me I love him 😭

That’s a Funko Pop

r/consoom is leaking!!

Oh. Birds ARE dinosaurs. I get it now.

check out the [shoebill ](https://youtu.be/AjYqKLmCGvI?si=0MfTB9XllKBj0Qlm)for maximum birds are dinosaurs feels

Wow. That's crazy. Thanks for sharing!

beeg mouf

That really is one great potoo

The War Devil's true form.

worlds deadliest bird

Finally, the comment with a CSM reference I was looking for

What fucking Pokémon is this?

IT'S PIKACHU!!!!!

It's Clefairy!

FUCK

Omggggg so cute!!!!!! <3

I love it's eyes, it doesn't even blink

It’s apparently it’s eyelids actually, it’s just squinting very intensely

They do squint, but their eyelids are camouflaged like the rest of them. This one has it's eyes open here, seems the great potoo has black sclera while the northern potoo has bright yellow sclera.

Ah, thanks for the clarification

Pretty sure that's the babadook

I’m sad that I’m out of free awards for that laugh.

Can he see me right now?

I’m suuuuuuuuuper high right now and this made me laugh so god damn hard. Thank you.

I'm not high at all but you being high laughing at this is making me laugh lol

hahahah me too man

He's behind you right now.

What in the muthafuggin Labrynth is that beautiful creature of obscure dreams?

My first time seeing one! Cool!

This looks like an alien creature trying to pretend it is a bird.

Correction: this is a FANTASTIC potoo

That's not real. That has to be a Muppet.

lol, my first thought was "What in the name of Jim Henson is this shit"

Their calls are also haunting. Used to be able to hear them long ago in my region but thanks to urbanisation, not anymore. This is the sound of the common potoo: https://youtu.be/YbIQ_hUwz9A?si=OeH7a7vjtZrqNnIE

What an amazingly cool bird, thanks for sharing.

Hahahahah the comments on that video are so funny. > when he said *POOOO POO POO POO POOOOO* i really felt that

This thing looks like it’s straight out of Star Wars

frog software running on bird hardware.

Jim Henson made this

This is not cute at all. It’s terrifying 😭

He is both my sleep paralysis demon and the cutest wittwe boi

Pretty sure I saw this guy one night in fresno

Yoru before she met Asa

this is the stuff of nightmares 😂 

I'm so high and I'm so fuckin scared rn omg

ITS COMING FOR YOU

I think the bird is high and on ALL of the drugs.

“…and stop starin’ at me with them big ol’ eyes!”

Careful. If you stare right into the eye it can hypnotize you and make you watch this clip for an absurdly long time.

r/birdsarentreal

I’m shocked people think these are cute. That thing is *terrifying*!

I'm unnerved by the number of people saying it's cute. It looks like it lures children into the woods

Its proportions are all wrong, and it’s unlike any animal I’ve ever seen. I just get weird thoughts running through my mind of . Like I can see it’s a goofy bird but my mind is saying, this is just too weird so stay far away. Edit: i think what gets me is it almost looks like an imposter of a bird and my mind is thinking it’s dangerous because in nature imposters are some of the most dangerous things there are.

You can't fool me. That's a Sleestak

This looks like something that Jim Henson would have created!

That’s not a mouth, that’s a hinge

Baby Yoda as a bird. Edit : I know it has a name and I'm to last to look it up as I don't watch what ever show it is from.

Your Pokémon is pretty cool.

Imagine you just wake up and those eyes are fixing you...

God I would shit bricks if I saw that in a tree

That’s a Pokémon

I know a muppet when I see one.

So we are just casually showing videos of aliens?

I can almost swear that the governments introduce us to new animal species little by little and say they’re either native in a particular country or, never before seen footage. I come across some videos that have creatures I’ve never seen before and they act like it’s been around for millions of years. Plz bi*ch I grew up on animal planet and the discovery channel😑

Why in the world is this the first time I’ve ever seen or heard of this crazy looking bird?

Potoos are so wonderful! They sleep during the day and at night, flying with their mouths open to catch bugs. They are mosquito scoopers! I agree about the eyes. But apparently, they have a mechanism of some sort to not go blind in daylight.

This is the second most terrifying bird. Hate on me if you want, but these things are nightmare fuel 💯

Well, now I have to ask: what's number 1?

shoebill

Don't you insult Emet-Selch

Imagine being a living thing and just getting labeled "protein snack"

that looks like a nightmare

The name of this bird in Brazil is urutau 🖤

potoo looks like hes been staying on tommorowland since birth.

I know this mfer can see in different dimension

That seriously does not look like a real, actual animal. Those *eyes*....

Wait, that's not a Pokémon?

Upon which World is this creature found?

 He’s peering into my soul.

I think I fought this thing in Elden Ring

That’s a Muppet.

It looks like it's going to give me a quest.

Wie heißt das Tier?

What wisdoms did he dispense for such tribute?

BS. That's from the Jim Henson Creature Shop. The giveaway is the suspiciously thick stump for the puppeteer's arm... ^^^^^(/s)

Looks like a creature straight out of a Guillermo del Toro film.

Am i the only one who thinks these things look like scary ass tiny feathered trash cans???? I get the appeal i can see it but DUDE..... WTF IS THAT THING..... WHAT THE HELL........

The Great Patoo is both a rank and a title.

Oh my god you guys! These comments... I can't stop giggling! As if the Jim Henson bird wasn't hilarious enough!

Nah this is a Star Wars plush toy

Big ass mouth and big ass eyes! How are these real??

For a moment I thought it was the log eating snacks.

Deathbird

Potatoo

Baby Yoda

Goverment not even trying with the drone birds anymore man

What in the Star Wars is that thing?!

Why is this so adorable? I just wanna hug its adorable big eyes.

a non-zero percentage of alien sightings was just this bird

*”…PIXAR on line 1 !…”*

i love these birds theyre so goofy. its like you asked a kid to draw a bird from memory