Measurements
Both Sexes
- Length
- 11.8–14.2 in
30–36 cm - Weight
- 2.5–4.2 oz
71–119 g
Other Names
- Ani à bec lisse (French)
- Garrapatero pico liso (Spanish)
Cool Facts
- Like other anis, the Smooth-billed Ani lives in small groups of one to five breeding pairs, and up to seventeen individuals. They defend a single territory and lay their eggs in one communal nest. All group members incubate the eggs and care for the young.
- One member of a Smooth-billed Ani group often sits on a high perch and watches for danger while the rest forage.
- Several Smooth-billed Ani females typically lay eggs and incubate in the same nest. Late-laying females bury the eggs of early-laying females with twigs and leaves, which can create a number of layers of eggs; only the top layer eventually hatches. As many as 36 eggs may be found in a single nest.
- Juvenile Smooth-billed Anis from first broods stay with their natal group and help feed the second brood.
Habitat
Open Woodland
Open situations with brush or scrub, fields, plantations, gardens and forest clearings.
Food
Omnivore
Insects, other arthropods, lizards, frogs, and some fruit.
Nesting
Nesting Facts
- Clutch Size
- 3–36 eggs
- Egg Description
- Pale blue with a white, chalky outer layer.
- Condition at Hatching
- Helpless.
Nest Description
Open cup of twigs, lined with leaves. Placed in fork of dense, thorny bush or tree.
Nest Placement
Tree
Behavior
Ground Forager
Forages on ground and in trees and shrubs. Captures insects stirred up by grazing cattle and power mowers by scrambling through grass and along low tree branches and grabbing flushed prey.
Conservation
Least Concern
Common in tropics; Florida population declining rapidly.
Credits
- Quinn, J. S., and J. M. Startek-Foote. 2000. Smooth-billed Ani (Crotophaga ani). In The Birds of North America, No. 539 (A. Poole and F. Gill, eds.). The Birds of North America, Inc., Philadelphia, PA.