Potoo

 Frankly, my main reason for bringing this up and everything is basically the pictures, like these three from ABC Birds. 

Above is the common Potoo. Below is the Rufous Potoo. I really liked how the one below looks like it's got a strange ruff on, but also it looks like it's from a weird angle because of the turning of the head. 

Below is the White Winged Potoo. Doesn't it look almost hilariously large-eyed?

Anyway, Potoos are often brought up as looking 'muppet-like' when discussing 'birbs'. There are 7 types of potoo, and they're all nocturnal, but they're not closely related to owls, despite what you might think. They're also a pretty old bird type, with fossils of recognizable potoos dating back to the Eocene Epoch, over 30 million years ago. 

Since Potoos are nocturnal, they hide in plain sight during the day. Unlike the Vegitarian Goatsucker that lives in caves, these guys mostly just find somewhere to hang out and stay very still. They can also resemble stumps rather easily by assuming a 'cryptic' posture that involves stretching their head out and compressing their feathers, to look like a stump. The picture below, from IFL Science, is what they're talking about, I think. I'm pretty sure the first branch is a potoo, but I actually wouldn't be surprised if I'm wrong about that. 

The Great Potoo is also known as a Ghost Bird because they are nocturnal, appear out of nowhere, and they scream. Well, I call it a scream, but one BBC reporter said they sound like a “moaning growl sound like an angry fox gargling a Jägerbomb”. The picture above is a Great Potoo. 

Another interesting thing about these poor, weird, birds is  that they don't make nests. The females lay a single egg in a knot hole or crevice, then both parents come back to feed it insects after it hatches. Apparently, it only takes 2 weeks for baby potoos to start stretching out to look like branches. 

These guys are on the list of weird birds for several reasons, but I mostly love them for their 'muppet-like' looks. There are a lot of interesting things for them though, so I hope I managed to find something that you thought was cool too. If you want to know more, there are links below. If you don't want to know more, that's ok too. I'll see you again soon. 

Sources:

eBird-- Common Potoo

eBird- Great Potoo

AAAS- Weird and Wonderful Creatures- The Potoo

ABC Birds-- Potoos

IFL Science-- The Great Potoo