Smooth-billed Ani

Crotophaga aniOrder: CUCULIFORMES Family: Cuckoos and Roadrunners (Cuculidae)

Codes: Common Name: SBAN Scientific Name: CROANI ITIS Taxonomic No.: 177838

Smooth-billed Ani Breeding Male Small Portrait

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Overview

Smooth-billed Ani: Medium-sized, shaggy bird, black overall with bronze overtones, thick bill and long tail, often bobbed, wagged, and held beneath body. Feathers on upper breast and back are lined with iridescent silver and are scaled. Flight is slow and weak,often low to the ground.

Range and Habitat

Smooth-billed Ani: Resident in southern Florida; also found in American tropics. Frequents open agricultural country, often near cattle or other livestock; also found in scrub and thickets.

Topo Map: Perching-like Body

Listen to Call

Voice Text

"kweeeelik", "weu-ick, weu-ick"

Interesting Facts

The nest of the Smooth-billed Ani is built communally by several pairs. Eggs are laid by several females, deposited in layers separated by leaves or grass.

Up to 30 eggs have been found in one nest. Those at the bottom do not hatch. The females share incubation, often two or more brooding simultaneously.

It is an old Surinamese belief that the disagreeable meat of the ani is a good cure for asthmatic sufferings. The patient was not supposed to know what he was eating, otherwise the medicine would not be effective.

A group of anis are collectively known as a "cooch", "orphanage", and "silliness" of anis.

Bird Term Glossary

Author

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Bird Call Credits: The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Martyn Stewart, http://www.naturesound.org, Redmond, Washington USA. The reuse or copying of bird calls in this database is strictly forbidden.

Smooth-billed Ani

● Song: "kweeeelik", "weu-ick, weu-ick"

● Foraging & Feeding: Smooth-billed Ani: Eats mainly insects, but also takes lizards, cattle parasites, snails, seeds, fruits, and berries; forages in scrublands and fields, usually on the ground.

● Breeding & nesting: Smooth-billed Ani: Three to six pale blue eggs are laid in a nest made of twigs and weeds, lined with grass, and built 5 to 30 feet above the ground in a dense shrub or tree. Eggs are incubated for 14 days by both parents, sometimes assisted by extra birds.

● Similar species: Smooth-billed Ani: Groove-billed Ani has smaller bill with a smooth curvature to the bend and grooves, different call, and is found in south Texas; ranges do not overlap.

Flight Pattern

Slow weak flight, alternating a series of rapid shallow stiff wing beats with short glides.

Smooth-billed Ani Breeding Male Body Illustration

● Range & Habitat: Smooth-billed Ani: Resident in southern Florida; also found in American tropics. Frequents open agricultural country, often near cattle or other livestock; also found in scrub and thickets.

^BreedingCooperative, Communal

^PopulationUncommon and local

^MigrationNonmigratory

^Weight4.2 Ounces

Perching-like Body

Breast

The upper front part of a bird.

4 and 6 letter alpha codes

The four letter common name alpha code is is derived from the first two letters of the common first name and the first two letters of common last name. The six letter species name alpha code is derived from the first three letters of the scientific name (genus) and the first three letters of the scientific name (species). See (1) below for the rules used to create the codes..

Four-letter (for English common names) and six-letter (for scientific names) species alpha codes were developed by Pyle and DeSante (2003, North American Bird-Bander 28:64-79) to reflect A.O.U. taxonomy and nomenclature (A.O.U. 1998) as modified by Supplements 42 (Auk 117:847-858, 2000) and 43 (Auk 119:897-906, 2002). The list has been updated by Pyle and DeSante to reflect changes reported by the A.O.U from 2003 through 2006.

Field Guide to Birds of North America