Crotophaga ani
Silhouette: Andy Wilson · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~90% in a week >90%
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 |
Likely
About 50% of wildlife watchers report a Smooth-billed Ani sighting in Natal on a given day, based on 40 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 15th most-seen of the 50 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 90%, and over a week to over 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
September
In that month about 60% of wildlife watchers report a Smooth-billed Ani in Natal on a given day, against about 30% in March and November, the lowest months. That is one of Natal's driest months, with about 30 mm of rain against 210 mm in June. January–February and June have too few records to rate.
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.
Among the best
Of the 34 cities where we can rate Smooth-billed Ani sightings, Natal ranks 2nd at about 50%, level with the leaders once rounded. The best odds are in Fortaleza (Brazil, about 50%).
Same family: Cuculidae
The closest relatives of the Smooth-billed Ani that you can see in Natal (family Cuculidae, Cuckoos) are Guira Cuckoo (about 20%) and Squirrel Cuckoo (about 20%), 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 Natal (40 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.
