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Cet oiseau est nocturne, pourtant il chasse le matin.

Cet oiseau est nocturne, pourtant il chasse le matin.
This bird is nocturnal, yet it hunts in the morning.
From Lesson 203:Opposition connectors (cependant, pourtant)·French

Questions & Answers about Cet oiseau est nocturne, pourtant il chasse le matin.

Why use pourtant here instead of just mais?
Pourtant emphasizes a strong contradiction or something surprising. Since a nocturnal bird usually sleeps during the day, hunting in the morning is highly unexpected. You could use mais (but), but pourtant gives the stronger meaning of 'yet' or 'even so' to highlight the surprise.
Why is it cet oiseau instead of ce oiseau?
Oiseau is a masculine singular noun, so we would normally use the demonstrative adjective ce (this). However, because oiseau starts with a vowel sound, ce changes to cet to make it flow better when spoken.
The translation says 'in the morning', but the French just says le matin. Where is the 'in'?
French does not use a preposition to say 'in the morning', 'in the afternoon', or 'in the evening'. You simply use the definite article le directly with the time of day, like le matin or le soir. Using le here also implies a habit, meaning the bird routinely hunts in the mornings.
Why does the sentence use il to mean 'it' when talking about a bird?
French does not have a neutral 'it' pronoun for animals or objects. Every noun is either masculine or feminine, and its pronoun must match. Because oiseau is a masculine noun, you must use il to refer back to it.

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