Anise (birds)
| anise | ||||||||||
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Smooth-billed ani ( Crotophaga ani ) |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||
| Crotophaga | ||||||||||
| Linnaeus , 1758 |
Aniseed ( Crotophaga ) are a genus of birds within the cuckoo family . The species-poor genus includes three types of large-beaked, long-tailed and uniformly black birds: the giant ani , the Riefenschnabelani and the smooth-beaked ani . Together with the Guirakuckuck , the genus forms the subfamily Crotophaginae.
Anise is common in large parts of South America , Central America , Mexico and small areas of the southern USA, as well as on many Caribbean islands . The species was introduced to the Galapagos Islands in the 1960s and is now considered a problematic neozoon there .
They are inhabitants of rainforest areas along rivers, mangroves , or of savannahs , cleared areas, secondary bushland and extensively used pastureland, and occasionally of heavily anthropogenically transformed landscapes such as large parks, golf courses or orchards. Anise are mainly resident birds. They feed mainly on insects that they prey on the ground or in bushes and trees, occasionally also on small vertebrates and especially in the dry season on fruits, berries and seeds. All species are highly social birds, living in groups of about 10 but also more birds. They are not brood parasites, but community breeders, that is, several females lay the eggs in a community nest.
Subspecies are not described, none of the three species is currently endangered.
features
Anise are uniformly black, long-tailed birds with a powerful beak. The upper beak is raised like a comb in the smooth-beaked ani, grooved several times along the length of the deep-billed ani and has a prominent hump in the giant ani. The giant ani is easily identifiable due to its size of up to 46 centimeters, while the smooth-beaked ani (35 centimeters) and the deep-beaked ani (32 centimeters) are about the same size and can only be determined by the different beak shapes apart from the different calls. In all species, the tail, which widens towards the tip, takes up more than half the length of the body. The uniformly black plumage shimmers, especially on the tips of the feathers, in various metallic shades of blue, green, purple or bronze. The beaks are slate gray, the strong feet, toes and claws gray-black, the irises of the eyes are dark brown to black. The featherless areas around the eyes and the skin of the body are also black.
The sexes do not differ in color. However, the beak of the females is usually less powerful than that of the male, this difference is particularly clear in the smooth-beaked ani. The size dimorphism is insignificant, the weight dimorphism is moderate. Females are about 10 percent lighter than males. Immature aniseed are very similar to adult ones, but their plumage still lacks the metallic sheen.
Anise walk on the ground or hop on both legs. The flight is straight and rather slow. Some rapid wing beats are followed by a glide phase. Groups of aniseed fly one behind the other in a line.
Morphological peculiarities
In contrast to other subfamilies of the cuckoos, which have 10 control feathers, the Crotophaginae (aniseed and guirakuckuck) have only 8. The crest of the upper beak is formed by an underlying back of the beak skeleton. Anise have exceptionally large anal glands that produce secretions whose function is still unclear. All aniseed give off an unpleasant, pungent-pungent smell when they are quiet, but especially in stressful situations. In contrast to other cuckoos, which only moult their plumage completely once a year, anise moults completely after brood and moults the small plumage before brood (and sometimes also during brood).
The toe arrangement is zygodactyl .
voice
Groups of anise are acoustically very noticeable. As socially living birds, they have a very diverse voice repertoire. Their diverse calls are also the best determinant. The main call of the giant anis is a gurgling, guttural series of calls that is vaguely reminiscent of the sound of boiling water, the main call of the deep-billed anise is a very high, rather quiet Tiju and that of the smooth-billed anise , a long aa (h) ji , gave the genus its name .
Behavior and breeding system
Anise are diurnal. They live together mainly in groups of several largely monogamous pairs, which also include unpaired adult birds and the young of a breeding season. The group size is variable, usually it is less than 10 individuals, but at the end of a breeding season it can also include 20 or more birds. Almost all activities, such as foraging, plumage care, brood care and defense against enemies take place in groups. They also spend their rest times together, often in close physical contact. With the Rief-beaked anise and the smooth-beaked ani there are also single breeding pairs, single pairs of the giant anise apparently do not brood.
Anise are common breeders, with the smooth-billed anise occasionally intraspecific brood parasitism occurs. They build a community nest in which all mated females lay their eggs. Nevertheless, the breeding competition between the individual pairs is great: Eggs that have already been laid are removed from other females, or, as with the smooth-beaked ani, older clutches are covered with leaves so that the eggs cannot be hatched. The eggs of all species are very large and heavy in relation to the body weight and size of the females. The incubation period is short and the chicks and nestlings develop very quickly. In the event of disturbances, they leave the nest in less than 10 days.
Systematics
After Sorensen and Payne, the monotypical genus Guira is the sister genus . Together with it, Crotophaga forms the subfamily Crotophaginae. The second subfamily of New World cuckoos, the Neomorphinae, to which 5 genera belong, is relatively closely related to the Crotophaginae. In 1990 Sibley and Ahlquist united the Crotophaginae together with the Hoatzin in a separate family Crotophagidae, a classification that has been refuted by molecular biological findings.
The anise includes 3 monotypical types. Smooth-beaked ani and Rief-beaked ani are sister species .
| German name | Scientific name | distribution | Hazard level Red List of IUCN |
Remarks | image |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Giant ani |
Crotophaga major ( Gmelin , 1788) |
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 ( Least Concern - not at risk)
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monotypical South America east of the Andes, south to northern Argentina; Eastern Panama |
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| Rief-beaked ani |
Crotophaga sulcirostris ( Swainson , 1827) |
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( Least Concern - not at risk)
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monotypical southern Texas Gulf coast south across Mexico and Central America to northern South America. West of the Andes from Ecuador south to Peru . |
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| Smooth-beaked ani |
Crotophaga ani ( Linnaeus , 1758) |
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( Least Concern - not at risk)
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monotypical Large areas of South America, almost all islands of the Caribbean and some areas of Florida and Central America |
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Existence and endangerment
All three species have large to very large areas of distribution, in which they occur regularly, sometimes frequently. Substantial threats are not known for any species, shallow-beaked ani and smooth-beaked ani can even benefit regionally from the extensive clearing of the primary forests. In some areas on the Pacific coast of South America and Central America, the smooth-beaked ani holds their own better than the deep-beaked ani and displaces them in some places. On the other hand, the Riefenschnabelani can also colonize new areas.
The smooth-beaked ani was naturalized in the Galapagos and spread widely there. Today attempts are being made to reduce the population on the Galapagos.
literature
- Bonnie S. Bowen: Groove-billed Ani (Crotophaga sulcirostris). In: The Birds of North America Online (A. Poole, Ed.). Ithaca: Cornell Lab of Ornithology; 2002 (online)
- Francisco Erize, Jorge R. Rodriguez Mata, and Maurice Rumboll: Birds of South America. Non Passerines: Rheas to Woodpeckers. Princeton Illustrated Checklists. Princeton University Press, Princeton and Oxford 2006. ISBN 0691126887 ; Pp. 240-241.
- James S. Quinn and Jennifer M. Startek-Foote: Smooth-billed Ani (Crotophaga ani) . In: The Birds of North America Online (A. Poole, Ed.). Ithaca: Cornell Lab of Ornithology 2000. (online)
- Robert B. Payne: The Cuckoos . Oxford University Press 2005. (Bird Families of the World No. 15) ISBN 0198502133 : Plate 1; Pp. 3-136 and 172-183.
Web links
- xeno-canto: Sound recordings - Smooth-billed Ani ( Crotophaga ani )
- xeno-canto: sound recordings - Greater Ani ( Crotophaga major )
- xeno-canto: Sound recordings - Groove-billed Ani ( Crotophaga sulcirostris )
Individual evidence
- ↑ Conservation and restoration of island ecosystems ( Memento of the original from November 17, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ Payne (2005) p. 6
- ^ Payne (2005) p. 6
- ↑ Payne (2005) p. 52
- ↑ Michael D. Sorenson and Robert B. Payne: A molecular genetic analysis of cuckoo phylogeny . In: Robert. B. Payne: The Cuckoos (2005). Pp. 83 and 84
- ↑ Payne (2005) p. 112
- ↑ Crotophaga major in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2016.3. Listed by: BirdLife International, 2012. Retrieved February 8, 2017.
- ↑ Crotophaga sulcirostris in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2016.3. Listed by: BirdLife International, 2012. Retrieved February 8, 2017.
- ↑ Crotophaga ani in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2016.3. Listed by: BirdLife International, 2008. Retrieved February 8, 2017.
- ↑ data sheet Riesenani BirdLife international pdf engl.
- ↑ Data sheet Riefenschnabelani BirdLife international pdf engl.
- ↑ Data sheet Glattschnabelani BirdLife international pdf engl.
