Birds · Steatornithiformes · Steatornithidae

Oilbird

Steatornis caripensis

Least Concern

The species is abundant and widely distributed; it faces no significant short-term risk. See full glossary

The oilbird is a nocturnal bird unique in the world: it is the only fruit-eating bird that flies by night and the only one that nests in colonies deep inside caves, in complete darkness. It navigates by echolocation, like bats, though with clicks audible to the human ear. It emerges at dusk to look for the fruit of palms and laurels, which it locates by smell and swallows whole, and it can cover more than a hundred kilometres in a night.

Weight

350 g – 475 g

Size

40 cm – 49 cm

Lifespan

25 years

Diet

Herbivore

Feeds mainly on plants.

Activity

Nocturnal

Active mainly at night.

Social structure

Colony

Lives in large concentrations, often for breeding reasons.

Sighting difficulty

Easy

RainforestMountainHerbivore Nocturnal Colonial Bird Rainforest Mountain

8countries 6parks

Fun facts

sentidosIt is one of the few birds known to echolocate in pitch-dark caves, using clicks audible to the human ear, much as bats do.
It is one of the very few birds in the world that echolocates: it gives series of clicks audible to people and uses them to navigate inside caves in total darkness.
The chicks put on so much fat that they come to weigh twice as much as an adult, and for centuries they were harvested in Venezuela and boiled down for cooking oil, a practice that gave the Cueva del Guácharo its name.

Life cycle & biology

Skeleton type: Vertebrate - internal bony skeleton (bird)
Habitat & environment: Deep caves for nesting; it feeds in the rainforests and montane forests of South America and Trinidad
Sexual maturity: 2 years
Gestation / incubation: 33 days of incubation
Litter / clutch size: 3 eggs

Sources consulted: https://www.iucnredlist.org/ | https://animaldiversity.org/ | https://es.wikipedia.org/