Smooth-billed Ani

The Smooth-billed Ani is a conspicuous, gregarious bird found year-round in Ecuador’s lowland and foothill regions, especially in open and semi-open habitats such as pastures, plantations, and scrubby fields. It is locally common on the mainland, but its introduction to the Galápagos Islands in the 1960s has raised serious conservation concerns due to its predation on native birds and role in spreading invasive plant seeds. Globally listed as Least Concern, it thrives in human-altered landscapes and benefits from deforestation and agricultural expansion. Known for its communal nesting behavior, multiple females lay eggs in a shared twig nest, with group members cooperatively incubating and feeding the young—a social strategy that mirrors its noisy, flock-based lifestyle.