Groove-billed Ani, Crotophaga sulcirostris

Groove-billed Ani, Crotophaga sulcirostris. Birds photographed in the greater Puerto Vallarta area, Guerrero, March 2014. Photographs courtesy of Dr. Tom Bartol, Carlsbad, California.

Groove-billed Ani, Crotophaga sulcirostris. Birds photographed in the greater Zihuatanejo area, Guerrero, March 2018. Photographs courtesy of Ron Woheau, Zihuatanejo.

Groove-billed Ani, Crotophaga sulcirostris. Bird photographed in Parque National Huatulco, Huatulco, Oaxaca, March 2021. Photograph and identification courtesy of Marina Sutormina, Stockholm, Sweden.

The Goove-billed Ani, Crotophaga sulcirostris, is a member of the Cuculiformes Family of Cuckoos, which has one hundred and forty-seven members placed in thirty-three genera, and one of three global species of the Crotophaga Genus. They are in Mexico as garrapatero asurcado.

The Groove-billed Ani is mid-sized in stature. They are sexually dimorphic with the males being larger than the females, however they have similar plumages. They are a uniform black color with the rear feathers having dull bronzy olive-green margins. Their bill is large, dull black and laterally compressed with an arched upper mandible and parallel, curved grooves; their iris is brown or black, and their legs and feet are black. Their wings are short and broad, and they have a long tail.

The Groove-billed Ani are found in open country including bushy pastures, orchards, savanna, and cleared areas that are sparsely populated with trees at elevations up to 2,300 m (7,500 feet). Most of the northern populations migrate to southern latitudes for wintering. They primarily consume insects and spiders supplementing their diets with lizards, and seasonal berries and fruits. They have drawn scientific attention as they live in social groups of one to five pairs that defend a group territory. The females lay their eggs in a single nest and the joint clutch is incubated and cared for by all members of the group.

In Mexico the Groove-billed Ani are found in the coastal regions within the entire Atlantic Slope from Tamaulipas to Belize, including the Yucatán Peninsula and Ambergris Cay, Isla Cozumel, and Isla Holox in the Caribbean. Within the Pacific Slope they are found from southern Sonora to Guatemala. They are also found in the interior states of Chihuahua, Coahuila, Durango, San Luis Potosí, and Zacatecas.

The Groove-billed Ani is a straightforward identification that cannot be confused with any other species.

From a conservation perspective the Groove-billed Ani is currently considered to be of Least Concern with stable, widely distributed populations. They have benefited from human modifications of habitat that create open spaces for agriculture and cattle ranching, especially if scattered trees remain for nesting.