Birds · Cuculiformes · Cuculidae
Smooth-billed Ani
Crotophaga ani
The species is abundant and widely distributed; it faces no significant short-term risk. See full glossary
The smooth-billed ani, known in Spanish as garrapatero aní and also as garrapatero piquiliso, chulie, güisa, anó chico, judío, ch'ikbu'ul, matacaballos de pico liso (Chile), maúri, pirincho negro chico, tijuíl pico liso and vacamuchacho and tijo, is a species of cuculiform bird of the family Cuculidae native to the Americas, where it is distributed from Florida and the Yucatán Peninsula, through the Antilles to Trinidad and Tobago, and from Costa Rica to northern Argentina, by way of Brazil, Colombia, Bolivia, Ecuador, Venezuela and Paraguay under the name anó, and Peru. It has recently reached southern Chile. No subspecies are known.
Weight
80 g – 130 g
Size
33 cm – 36 cm
Lifespan
12 years
Diet
Insectivore
Feeds mainly on insects and other invertebrates.
Activity
Diurnal
Active mainly during the day.
Social structure
Colony
Lives in large concentrations, often for breeding reasons.
Sighting difficulty
Easy
Fun facts
- Several females lay in the same communal nest and the whole group incubates and rears together, but before incubation begins each female throws out of the nest the eggs the others have already laid: an internal competition settled when the last to lay stops evicting.
- It follows cattle to catch the insects they flush, and it also eats ticks straight off the animals' backs, which is where its Spanish name comes from.
- Its bulging, laterally flattened bill gives it an unmistakable profile and has inspired local names referring to a parrot or a knife in several countries of the Americas.
Life cycle & biology
- Skeleton type
- Vertebrate - internal bony skeleton (bird)
- Habitat & environment
- Grassland, scrub, farmland, forest edges and urban areas of tropical America
- Sexual maturity
- 12 months
- Gestation / incubation
- 13 days of incubation
- Litter / clutch size
- 5 eggs
Sources consulted: https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crotophaga_ani
Where to find it
See its range on the interactive mapWhere to watch it
Parques y spots de buceo donde se ha documentado esta especie — se muestran 10 de 61 documentados.
Related species
Other species in the catalogue with the most in common with Smooth-billed Ani — same habitat, park, country, tags or family.
Southern Tamandua
Tamandua tetradactyla
Pallas's Mastiff Bat
Molossus molossus
Red-winged Tinamou
Rhynchotus rufescens
American Golden Plover
Pluvialis dominica
Scarlet Ibis
Eudocimus ruber
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