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Home/Species/ Groove-billed Ani

Crotophaga sulcirostris

Swainson, 1827

Groove-billed Ani

G5Secure Found in 1 roadless area NatureServe Explorer →
G5SecureGlobal Rank
Least concernIUCN
Identity
Unique IDELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.102907
Element CodeABNRB11030
Record TypeSPECIES
ClassificationSpecies
Classification StatusStandard
Name CategoryVertebrate Animal
IUCNLeast concern
Endemicoccurs (regularly, as a native taxon) in multiple nations
KingdomAnimalia
PhylumCraniata
ClassAves
OrderCuculiformes
FamilyCuculidae
GenusCrotophaga
Other Common Names
Ani à bec cannelé (FR) Garrapatero Pijuy, Matacaballos (ES) groove-billed ani (EN)
Concept Reference
American Ornithologists' Union (AOU). 1998. Check-list of North American birds. Seventh edition. American Ornithologists' Union, Washington, D.C. [as modified by subsequent supplements and corrections published in The Auk]. Also available online: http://www.aou.org/.
Conservation Status
Rank MethodExpertise without calculation
Review Date2016-04-07
Change Date1996-11-27
Range Extent>2,500,000 square km (greater than 1,000,000 square miles)
Range Extent Comments
RESIDENT: from southern Sonora, central and southern Texas, and southern Louisiana (rare) south through Middle and South America to northern Chile and northwestern Argentina; formerly in southern Baja California. Wanders irregularly east along Gulf coast to peninsular Florida.
Ecology & Habitat

Habitat

ALL SEASONS: Open and partly open country, including scrub, thickets, cultivated lands, savanna, orchards, marshes, and second growth. BREEDING: Nests usually in low tree, shrubby thicket, or on cactus clump (Harrison 1978).

Ecology

Often in loose flocks of up to 15, usually about 6-8, occasionally in pairs (Stiles and Skutch 1989). In Costa Rica, most young (75%) dispersed from natal area (Bowen et al. 1989).

Reproduction

Clutch size 3-5. Several females (of 2-4 cooperating pairs, Stiles and Skutch 1989) may lay total of 15 eggs in one nest. Incubation 13-14 days, by both sexes; several birds may incubate. Young tended by all members of group, including young of earlier brood.
Terrestrial Habitats
Shrubland/chaparralSavannaOld fieldCropland/hedgerow
Palustrine Habitats
HERBACEOUS WETLANDRiparian
Other Nations (1)
United StatesN4
ProvinceRankNative
LouisianaSNAYes
ArizonaS1NYes
MississippiSNAYes
AlabamaS2NYes
FloridaSNAYes
ArkansasSNAYes
TexasS4BYes
Roadless Areas (1)
New Mexico (1)
AreaForestAcres
West Face Sacramento MountainsLincoln National Forest41,176
References (18)
  1. American Ornithologists' Union (AOU). 1983. Check-list of North American Birds, 6th edition. Allen Press, Inc., Lawrence, Kansas. 877 pp.
  2. American Ornithologists' Union (AOU). 1998. Check-list of North American birds. Seventh edition. American Ornithologists' Union, Washington, D.C. [as modified by subsequent supplements and corrections published in <i>The Auk</i>]. Also available online: http://www.aou.org/.
  3. Bent, A.C. 1940. Life histories of North American cuckoos, goatsuckers, hummingbirds, and their allies. Part I. U.S. National Museum Bulletin 176. 244 pp.
  4. BirdLife International. 2004b. Threatened birds of the world 2004. CD ROM. BirdLife International, Cambridge, UK.
  5. Bowen, B. S., R. R. Koford, and S. L. Vehrencamp. 1989. Dispersal in the communally breeding groove-billed ani (CROTOPHAGA SULCIROSTRIS). Condor 91:52-64.
  6. Eitniear, J.C., and A. T. Aragon. 2000. Red-billed Pigeon (Columba flavirostris) nest predated by Groove-billed ani (Crotophaga sulcirostris). Ornitología Neotropical 11: 231-232.
  7. Harrison, C. 1978. A Field Guide to the Nests, Eggs and Nestlings of North American Birds. Collins, Cleveland, Ohio.
  8. Harrison, H. H. 1979. A field guide to western birds' nests. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston. 279 pp.
  9. Howell, S. N. G., and S. Webb. 1995. A guide to the birds of Mexico and northern Central America. Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK.
  10. Parker III, T. A., D. F. Stotz, and J. W. Fitzpatrick. 1996. Ecological and distributional databases for neotropical birds. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago.
  11. Poole, A. F. and F. B. Gill. 1992. The birds of North America. The American Ornithologists' Union, Washington, D.C. and The Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, PA.
  12. Ridgely, R. S. 2002. Distribution maps of South American birds. Unpublished.
  13. Ridgely, R. S. and J. A. Gwynne, Jr. 1989. A Guide to the Birds of Panama. 2nd edition. Princeton University Press, Princeton, USA.
  14. Sibley, D. A. 2000a. The Sibley guide to birds. Alfred A. Knopf, New York.
  15. Souza, F. L. 1995. A study of group structure and home range size of CROTOPHAGA ANI and GUIRA GUIRA in Sao Paulo, Brasil (Cuculiformes, Cuculidae). Ararajuba 3:72-74.
  16. Stiles, F. G. and A. F. Skutch. 1989. A guide to the birds of Costa Rica. Cornell University Press, Ithaca, New York, USA. 511 pp.
  17. Terres, J. K. 1980. The Audubon Society encyclopedia of North American birds. Alfred A. Knopf, New York.
  18. Zook, J. L. 2002. Distribution maps of the birds of Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama. Unpublished.