Smooth-Billed Ani

SCIENTIFIC NAME: Crotophaga Ani

Smooth-billed Ani

Adults have black overall with some bronze iridescence and pale scaled effect on chest and back due to silver feathers’ edges.

The long tail is often dipped and wagged. Wings are pointed. Bill, bare facial skin, legs and feet are black. Eyes are dark brown to black.

Both sexes are similar.

Juveniles are duller than adults.

BILL: bulky parrot-like bill, with a hump on the upper mandible, near the base. It is down- curved, and laterally flattened.

SIZE: measures about 13 - 14 inches in length, with a wingspan of 17 - 17.7 inches.

WEIGHT: weighs about 95 - 113 grams.

COLOR: black, bronze iridescence and dark brown.

Insects (grasshoppers, caterpillars and moths), but it also consumes lizards, cattle parasites, snails, seeds, fruits and berries.

Open and semi-open country, savannahs, scrublands, and cultivated areas.

It is found in wet second growth, brushy fields and roadsides, and near livestock.

Central America, the Caribbean, and a large part of South America.

CALL: Utters a whining “quee-lick” prolongated.

There is also a slurred “ree-o-rink” usually repeated one to four times; a mewing “reeeahh” and a slurred mewing “reeh-yuh” or a “roohr-ehw”.

They are noisy when in groups.

NEST: Nest is a bulky cup made with sticks.

EGGS: 7 greenish-blue eggs.

INCUBATION: 13 - 15 days, shared by several pairs taking turns.

FLEDGLING PHASE: 7 - 10 days.

They live in small groups of one to five breeding pairs.

They defend a single territory and lay their eggs in one communal nest.

All group members incubate the eggs and care for the young.

Smooth-billed Ani Infographic

SOURCES: https://www.birds-of-north-america.net

Black Birds Seen in North America - Smooth-Billed Ani