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Smooth-billed Ani

Crotophaga aniOrder: CUCULIFORMESFamily: Cuckoos and Roadrunners (Cuculidae)

Smooth-billed Ani Breeding Male Portrait
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General

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 appear scaled. Sexes are similar.

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.

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.



Author

Gary Owen Dick

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Range Map for Smooth-billed Ani
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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.
Family Roadrunners and Cuckoos (Cuculidae)
Species Crotophaga ani
Length12 - 14 Inches
Wingspan17.5 Inches

Smooth-billed Ani

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.

● 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