Crotophaga major
Silhouette: Andy Wilson · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~30% in a week ~50%
The greater ani (Crotophaga major) is a bird in the cuckoo family. It is sometimes referred to as the black cuckoo. It is found through tropical South America south to northern Argentina. In 1760 the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson included a description and an illustration of the greater ani in his Ornithologie based on a specimen collected in Cayenne, French Guiana. He used the French name Le grand Bout-de-Petun and the Latin name Crotophagus Major. Although Brisson coined Latin names, these do not conform to the binomial system and are not recognised by the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature. The greater ani was also described and illustrated in 1779 by the French polymath Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon in his Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux.
When in 1788 the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin revised and expanded Carl Linnaeus's Systema Naturae, he included the greater ani. He placed it with the smooth-billed ani in the genus Crotophaga, coined the binomial name Crotophaga major and cited the earlier authors. Gmelin specified the type locality as Cayenne. The genus name combines the Ancient Greek krotōn meaning "tick" with... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cuyabeno Wildlife Reserve | 🇪🇨 Ecuador | |
| 2 | Yasuní National Park | 🇪🇨 Ecuador | |
| 3 | Anavilhanas National Park | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 4 | Soberanía National Park | 🇵🇦 Panama | |
| 5 | Parque Estadual Encontro das Águas | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 6 | Amacayacu National Natural Park | 🇨🇴 Colombia | |
| 7 | Caroni Swamp | 🇹🇹 Trinidad and Tobago | |
| 8 | San Lorenzo Protected Forest | 🇵🇦 Panama | |
| 9 | Iguaçu National Park | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 10 | Iguazú National Park | 🇦🇷 Argentina | |
| 11 | Manu National Park | 🇵🇪 Peru | |
| 12 | Tambopata National Reserve | 🇵🇪 Peru | |
| 13 | El Impenetrable National Park | 🇦🇷 Argentina | |
| 14 | Utría National Natural Park | 🇨🇴 Colombia | |
| 15 | Darién National Park | 🇵🇦 Panama | |
| 16 | Tayrona National Natural Park | 🇨🇴 Colombia | |
| 17 | Tortuguero National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 18 | Sierra de la Macarena National Park | 🇨🇴 Colombia | |
| 19 | Chagres National Park | 🇵🇦 Panama | |
| 20 | Iberá National Park | 🇦🇷 Argentina | |
| 21 | Parque Natural Metropolitano | 🇵🇦 Panama |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | São Luís | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 2 | Fortaleza | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 3 | Medellín | 🇨🇴 Colombia | |
| 4 | Cali | 🇨🇴 Colombia | |
| 5 | Bogota | 🇨🇴 Colombia | |
| 6 | Manaus | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 7 | Santa Cruz de la Sierra | 🇧🇴 Bolivia | |
| 8 | Barranquilla | 🇨🇴 Colombia | |
| 9 | Campo Grande | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 10 | Belém | 🇧🇷 Brazil |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Parque de la Conservación | 🇨🇴 Colombia |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Greater Ani sighting in Iguazú National Park on a given day, based on 527 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 121st most-seen of the 343 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.
December and January
In those months about 30% of wildlife watchers report a Greater Ani in Iguazú National Park on a given day, against under 5% in March to September, the lowest months.
Between 7 and 10 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Greater Ani sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
10th of 21
Of the 21 parks where we can rate Greater Ani sightings, Iguazú National Park ranks 10th at about 10%. The best odds are in Cuyabeno Wildlife Reserve (Ecuador, about 60%), Yasuní National Park (Ecuador, about 50%) and Anavilhanas National Park (Brazil, about 40%). All parks ranked.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Greater Ani is recorded against all the birds logged in Iguazú National Park (527 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), 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.
