[3] The potoos today are exclusively found in the Americas, but they apparently had a much more widespread distribution in the past.

[6] The family Nyctibiidae was introduced (as Nyctibie) in 1853 by the French naturalists Jean-Charles Chenu and Œillet des Murs.

The fossil genus Euronyctibius, from the Oligocene of France, was formerly considered a potoo, but analysis supports it instead being a close relative of the oilbird (family Steatornithidae).

In the treatment of the family in the Handbook of the Birds of the World, Cohn-Haft describes the potoos as "little more than a flying mouth and eyes".

Unlike the closely related nightjars, the potoos lack rictal bristles around the mouth.

[6] They range from Mexico to Argentina, with the greatest diversity occurring in the Amazon Basin, which holds five species.

The potoos are generally highly sedentary, although there are occasional reports of vagrants, particularly species that have traveled on ships.

The English zoologist Hugh Cott, describing Nyctibius griseus as "this wonderful bird", writes that it "habitually selects the top of an upright stump as a receptacle for its egg, which usually occupies a small hollow just, and only just, large enough to contain it ... the stump selected had thrown up a new leader just below the point of fracture ... and the birds sat facing this in such a way that when viewed from behind they came into line and blended with the grey stem.

[6] Their typical foraging technique is to perch on a branch and occasionally fly out in the manner of a flycatcher in order to snatch a passing insect.

They occasionally fly to vegetation to glean an insect off it before returning to their perch, but they do not attempt to obtain prey from the ground.

Potoos are monogamous breeders and both parents share responsibilities for incubating the egg and raising the chick.

The family does not construct a nest of any kind, instead laying the single egg on a depression in a branch or at the top of a rotten stump.

The behaviors described above suggest that the common potoo adopts different defensive strategies to suit its circumstances.

For a lone potoo, or a brooding adult with a potential predator close to the nest, the bird attempts to avoid detection by remaining motionless and relying on camouflage.