Crotophaga sulcirostris
Silhouette: Andy Wilson · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~50% in a week ~80%
The groove-billed ani (Crotophaga sulcirostris) is a tropical bird in the cuckoo family with a long tail and a large, curved beak. It is a resident species throughout most of its range, from southern Texas, central Mexico and The Bahamas, through Central America, to northern Colombia and Venezuela, and coastal Ecuador and Peru. It only retreats from the northern limits of its range in Texas and northern Mexico during winter.
The groove-billed ani was formally described by the English naturalist William Swainson from a specimen collected in Temascaltepec, Mexico. It still bears its original binomial name of Crotophaga sulcirostris. The specific epithet combines the Latin sulcus meaning "furrow" with -rostris meaning "-billed". The species is monotypic: no subspecies are recognised.
The groove-billed ani is about 34 cm (13 in) long, and weighs 70–90 g (2.5–3.2 oz). Wingspan ranges 41–46 cm (16–18 in). It is completely black, with a very long tail almost as long as its body. It has a huge bill with lengthwise grooves running the length of the upper mandible. It is very similar to the smooth-billed ani, some specimens of which have bills as small as the... Wikipedia →
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Guayaquil | 🇪🇨 Ecuador | |
| 2 | San Pedro Sula | 🇭🇳 Honduras | |
| 3 | León | 🇲🇽 México | |
| 4 | Tegucigalpa | 🇭🇳 Honduras | |
| 5 | Barranquilla | 🇨🇴 Colombia | |
| 6 | Managua | 🇳🇮 Nicaragua | |
| 7 | Guadalajara | 🇲🇽 México | |
| 8 | Puebla | 🇲🇽 México | |
| 9 | San Salvador | 🇸🇻 El Salvador | |
| 10 | Lima | 🇵🇪 Peru |
Possible
About 20% of wildlife watchers report a Groove-billed Ani sighting in Ostional Wildlife Refuge on a given day, based on 155 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 47th most-seen of the 182 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 50%, and over a week to about 80%, if each day is a fresh chance.
May–June and September–November
In those months about 30% of wildlife watchers report a Groove-billed Ani in Ostional Wildlife Refuge on a given day, against about 10% in January and April, the lowest months. Those are among Ostional Wildlife Refuge's wettest months, with about 430 mm of rain a month against 15 mm in February.
Between 8 and 11 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Groove-billed 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.
17th of 46
Of the 46 parks where we can rate Groove-billed Ani sightings, Ostional Wildlife Refuge ranks 17th at about 20%. The best odds are in Palo Verde National Park (Costa Rica, about 70%), Lago de Yojoa (Honduras, about 40%) and Cusuco National Park (Honduras, about 40%). All parks ranked.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Groove-billed Ani is recorded against all the birds logged in Ostional Wildlife Refuge (155 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.
