Greater Ani (Crotophaga major) Dutch text English text Vogels in Suriname/Birds in Suriname


Pictures (click on them to enlarge)
Crotophaga major, Greater Ani, Garrapatero hervidor, by N. Takano
© N. Takano

Crotophaga major, Greater Ani, Garrapatero hervidor, by Pieter Verheij
© Pieter Verheij

Crotophaga major, Greater Ani, Garrapatero hervidor, by Stephan Ferrier
© Stephan Ferrier

Crotophaga major, Greater Ani, Garrapatero hervidor, by Paul van Giersbergen
© Paul van Giersbergen

Crotophaga major, Greater Ani, Garrapatero hervidor, by Dominiek Plouvier
© Dominiek Plouvier

  


Greater Ani: The bird is very social, commonly found with groups near water and sometimes calling together. Its nests are found in groups in swampy places.
Photo of a Greater ani made by N. Takano (personal museum of natural history) in August 2004 in Weg naar Zee, a road to the sea near Paramaribo going from the ricefields and swamps up to the mangrove and the mudflats. The photo clearly shows the light yellow eye of the ani. Then a picture made by Pieter Verheij in Nickerie in 2005: you can see the deep blue shine on the bird. And the last picture was made in the Bigi Pan area in April 2009 by Stephan Ferrier, a Greater Ani on its nest.


Distribution




Each small square indicates the observation of at least one (group) of these birds, the medium ones at least four observations on different days and the largest ones ten or more. The color of each square indicates: blue for coastal area, yellow for savanna and red for rainforest.
Not all places in Suriname have been equally often visited by birders, so the distribution of the squares gives an indication of the whereabouts of the birds, but also of the birders. Some places deep in the south have no reported bird observations, by experienced birders, within 60 kilometer.
Abundance in different areas
coastal zone (blue dots on the map) :
northern savannas (yellow dots (in the north)) :
rainforest under 400 m (red dots) :
rainforest above 400 m (red dots) :
Sipaliwini savanna (yellow dots (in the south)) :

A blank is shown if not convincingly reported in the zone.
Data interpreted by Arie Spaans, Otte Ottema and Jan Hein Ribot.

Names
Scientific name: Crotophaga major
Order: Cuculiformes
Family: Cuculidae, 11 in Suriname
Dutch: Grote Ani, bigi kawfutuboi
English: Greater Ani
Sranan ('Surinamese'): Busi kawfutuboi, bigi kawfutuboi
Guyana:
Papiamento:
Spanish (Venezuela): Garrapatero hervidor
Portugese (Brazil):
Arowak:
Carib:
French: Ani des palétuviers, grand ani


Observations through the year Observations of breeding through the year
The 463 reported observations of this bird in Suriname, mainly for the last 50 years up to 2018, have been grouped by month. More birds on one day are counted as one observation. Of course, if the graph should depict the total number of birds seen, the differences between the months could be much more pronounced. The 18 reported breeding observations of this bird in Suriname. Most observations are about nest with eggs, some about fledglings, or feeding at a nest or the building of a nest.

Of the about 5000 nests and eggs found for all species together, about 1/3 comes from the egg collection of Penard between 1896 and 1905. For some reason most collecting then was done in the first half of each year, so the shown distribution does not necessarily reflect the actual breeding preferences.
The main dry season in Suriname is reckoned to be from half August to the end of November, the main wet season from half April to half August, but the the timing of begin and end does vary from year to year. Around March a second dry season often occurs.

Fatbirder's Top 1000 Birding Websites Last update: September 2024 by Jan Hein Ribot. Please mail your comments, photos to: jhribot ( residing at ) gmail (point!) com.
observations can be uploaded to suriname.observation.org or ebird.org ).