Groove – billed Ani. Birds of Loja Ecuador

Groove-billed Ani. Birds Loja  Ecuador. Urban Birds of the Park, Gardens, and Sourrounding areas of the city of Loja – Ecuador. 44 bird species . Illustrated by Pablo Andrade. Work supported by Jan Hinloopen.

Groove-billed Ani, Garrapatero Piquiestriado, Crotophaga sulcirostris

Distribution.

 Numerous inscrub and agricultural regions, and around towns and settled areas in more arid lowlands of west, ranging up into highlands of south, also in Río Marañón drainage around Zamora.

Description:

Groove-billed Ani. Birds of Loja Ecuador.  28 – 30 cm (11 – 12″)

Black bill laterally compressed with culmen forming unbroken arch and maxilla showing several grooves. Entirely black. Tail long and rounded, often appearing loosely attached to body.

Similar Species: Resembles Smooth-billed Ani, sometimes ocurring with it though Smooth-billed favor more humid regions; rarely or never, however, do the two flock together. Often they are best distinguished by voice; further, slightly larger Smooth-billed is duller black and bill profile shows “hump” on culmen.

Habits: Similar to Smooth-billed Ani .

Voice: Has a variety of clucking calls, some (e.g., a repeated “kwik” or “hwik”) markedly sharper than any given by Smooth-billed; also a more querulous soft “koo-ilk?” vaguely like Smooth-billed?s most frequent call. 

Information taken from the book Birds Of Ecuador of Robert Ridgely and Paul Greenfield.