Christmas Lunch for a Smooth-Billed Ani (Crotophaga ani)
Discussion
3 replies
Posted by Steve Balke on December 28, 2009 at 3:57 PM
These birds are new to me but considered quite common across the West Indies, Bahamas, South Florida and Central America. I saw this one in Grand Cayman at the Gov. Michael Gore Bird Sanctuary. The bird was quite far for my 400mm lens. So, these images are very highly cropped to about 1 MP. However, I thought that they retained enough detail showing what the Ani considers food to make it an interesting post in this forum. I don’t see any other images of this bird on this website. Anyone have any? All comments welcome.
Entrée 1 of 2: Lizard surprise.
Posted by Steve Balke on December 28, 2009 at 3:58 PM
Entrée 2 of 2: Caterpillar delight.
Posted by Buck Ward on December 28, 2009 at 5:47 PM
As far as I know, they're not common in south Florida. Anis used to come seasonally to the Bailey Tract, part of Ding Darling NWR on Sanibel Island, but they haven't been seen there for years. I actually had one walk right under my tripod once. They make an incredible sound.
I recently saw a picture of one at STA5, a storm water treatment area south of Lake Okeechobee.
I have a couple of old slides of an ani, but no slide scanner - sorry can't post a photo.
Posted by Mia McPherson on December 28, 2009 at 6:26 PM
Steve,
I would not say they are common in South FL, sightings of them are uncommon.
Some where in my files I have some images of them, but I can't remember if I took them on one of the many Caribbean Islands I have been to or if it was Panama or Costa Rica.
Some day I will get my all files organized better. :-)
Discussion
3 repliesEntrée 1 of 2: Lizard surprise.
I recently saw a picture of one at STA5, a storm water treatment area south of Lake Okeechobee.
I have a couple of old slides of an ani, but no slide scanner - sorry can't post a photo.
I would not say they are common in South FL, sightings of them are uncommon.
Some where in my files I have some images of them, but I can't remember if I took them on one of the many Caribbean Islands I have been to or if it was Panama or Costa Rica.
Some day I will get my all files organized better. :-)