A Mule and its Anis

 

From southern Mexico to northern South America, one of the first birds a birder new to this part of the world will check off is almost invariably the Groove-billed Ani (Crotophaga sulcirostris).  Common in the kinds of disturbed environments nearly every visitor passes through and moving relatively slowly but noisily about in groups close to the ground, they’re hard to overlook.

Groove-billed anis have also been the focus of scientific research.  The famous Costa Rican naturalist and ornithologist Alexander Skutch first explored their natural history while groundbreaking behavioral biologist Sandra Lee Vehrencamp detailed their fascinating communal breeding system.  Others too have studied these birds.

The relative ease with which we can observe the birds and the fact that some very good researchers have done just that would suggest that we would have a solid handle on the basic natural history of these birds.  But there is one aspect of these birds’ behavior that’s been somewhat of a mystery.  Interestingly, it’s probably a mystery that countless campesinos could have answered for us had they wherewithal and any idea that anyone cared!

We have long known that Groove-billed Anis associate with cattle, horses, and mules. What hasn’t been clear are the forms this association takes.  We know that, like cattle egrets, Groove-billed anis occasionally follow large domestic mammals and catch the insects these animals scare out of hiding while wandering about.  Bent (1940) claimed, however, that Groove-billed Anis not only did this but also perched on cattle and even sometimes removed ticks.  Alexander Skutch, however, doubted that the birds did this. He suggested that people who thought they had seen this had confused anis with Giant Cowbirds, a similar-looking species well known for this kind of behavior.

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Nectar Feeding Tropical Parulas

Once you know something about a group of animals, you come to expect that they will eat particular things.  When one thinks of the family Parulidae (New World Warblers) and their diet, the first thing that comes to mind are insects or other small invertebrates and most warblers have fine thin bills ideally suited for catching these things. Also, anyone who has watched these hyper-energetic little birds forage can’t but be impressed by how actively they search out their prey.

In terms of being energetic, the Parulidae are perhaps outdone only by the hummingbirds. Maybe it shouldn’t be surprising then that like the hummingbirds warblers might occasionally put their fine thin bills to use collecting floral nectar to satisfy their energetic needs. While the evidence that warblers do this is circumstantial — I know of no experiments or close observations ruling out the possibility that they are instead visiting flowers to catch small invertebrates — this evidence suggests that it is more likely that many are collecting nectar than not.

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