Crotophaga ani
Silhouette: Andy Wilson · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~30% in a week ~50%
The smooth-billed ani (Crotophaga ani) is a bird in the cuckoo family. It is a resident breeding species from southern Florida, the Caribbean, parts of Central America, south to western Ecuador, Brazil, northern Argentina and southern Chile. It was introduced to Galápagos around the 1960s and is potentially impacting native and endemic species across the archipelago.
The smooth-billed ani was described and illustrated in 1648 by the German naturalist Georg Marcgrave in his Historia Naturalis Brasiliae. He used the name "Ani" but did not explain the origin of the word. It probably comes from the word Anim in the Tupi language which means "social bird". In 1756 the Irish physician Patrick Browne used the name Crotophaga for the species in his The Civil and Natural History of Jamaica. Browne's name combines the Ancient Greek krotōn meaning "tick" with -phagos meaning "-eating". Browne wrote that the smooth-billed anis "live chiefly upon ticks and other small vermin; and may be frequently seen jumping about all cows and oxen in the fields". When the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus updated his Systema Naturae for the tenth edition in 1758 he included the smooth-billed ani... Wikipedia →
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Fortaleza | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 2 | Natal | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 3 | Santa Cruz de la Sierra | 🇧🇴 Bolivia | |
| 4 | São Luís | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 5 | Recife | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 6 | Cali | 🇨🇴 Colombia | |
| 7 | Barranquilla | 🇨🇴 Colombia | |
| 8 | Goiânia | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 9 | Belém | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 10 | Havana | 🇨🇺 Cuba |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Smooth-billed Ani sighting in Belo Horizonte on a given day, based on 175 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 52nd most-seen of the 220 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 30%, and over a week to about 50%, if each day is a fresh chance.
January
In that month about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Smooth-billed Ani in Belo Horizonte on a given day, against under 5% in April and July, the lowest months. That is one of Belo Horizonte's wettest months, with about 220 mm of rain against 5 mm in July.
Between 8 and 11 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Smooth-billed Ani sightings with a recorded time, and nearly all of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
22nd of 34
Of the 34 cities where we can rate Smooth-billed Ani sightings, Belo Horizonte ranks 22nd at about 10%. The best odds are in Fortaleza (Brazil, about 50%), Natal (Brazil, about 50%) and Santa Cruz de la Sierra (Bolivia, about 40%).
Same family: Cuculidae
The closest relatives of the Smooth-billed Ani that you can see in Belo Horizonte (family Cuculidae, Cuckoos) are Squirrel Cuckoo (about 30%) and Guira Cuckoo (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Smooth-billed Ani is recorded against all the birds logged in Belo Horizonte (175 verified sightings), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
