Oilbird (Birds)

ORDER

Caprimulgiform.es

FAMILY

Steatornithidae

GENUS & SPECIES

Steatornis caripensis
Oilbird

KEY FEATURES

The world’s only nocturnal, fruit-eating bird Spends its days in a pitch-black cave, only coming out after dusk to feed Emits high-pitched clicking sounds like a bat to navigate through the utter blackness of its cave One of the few birds with a keen sense of smell

WHERE IN THE WORLD!

Found in northern and central South America from western Guyana through Venezuela and Colombia to Ecuador, Peru and northwestern Bolivia; also found in Panama and Trinidad
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LIFECYCLE

The oilbird is a creature of darkness, spending over half of its life in the ink-black depths of a mountain cave, emerging after dusk to feed in the lightless tropical forest.


HABITAT

A Cave bird Caves are a safe daytime haven from predators.
A Cave bird
Caves are a safe daytime haven from predators.
By night, the oilbird inhabits the tropical forest of Central and South America. As a fruit eater, it favors mature tropical forest that provides it with a year-round supply of food, and it has a particular fondness for laurel, palm and incense trees.
By day most oilbirds exploit a very different habitat: deep caves found in the mountains of South America and Panama and on the coast of Trinidad. The oilbird may nest over 2,000′ from the cave entrance — the only source of light. Most oilbirds roost in caves, but some populations in Venezuela also roost in palm trees.
The Spanish name for the oilbird is guacharo, which means “the one who wails.”
The oilbird is the only non-insectivorous member of the order Caprimulgiformes.
The oilbird is so-called because its nestlings are used by locals as an oil source.
The oilbird’s echolocation can only detect objects larger than 8″ wide.

FOOD & FEEDING

In the tropics, night falls quickly and as the shadows lengthen, oilbirds stream out of their roosting caves like a host of bats. As they emerge, they break into small flocks to begin their night-long search for food.
The oilbird has a well-developed sense of smell; scent plays a key role in its search for aromatic fruit. Hovering on its long wings, the bird plucks oily fruit of palm and laurel trees with its hooked bill. Lacking a crop (a saclike part of the esophagus), it carries food in its stomach to be digested during the day in its cave.
A Eating out The oilbird emerges from its cave at night to feed.
A Eating out
The oilbird emerges from its cave at night to feed.

NIGHT BIRDS

Colonial life
Colonial life
The oilbird roosts colonially in deep caves, taking wing at night to search the neighboring tropical forests for juicy fruit.
 Steering by echo...
Steering by echo…
In the cave’s darkness, the oilbird produces clicking sounds that bounce off the walls and give it a picture of its surroundings.
Led by its nose
Led by its nose
Travelling up to 15 miles over the forest, the oilbird uses its keen sense of smell to locate a tree laden with ripe fruit.
Struck oil
Struck oil
Swooping down, the oilbird hovers skillfully as it eats its fill, picking off the oily fruit of a palm tree with its sharply hooked bill.

BEHAVIOR

The oilbird is highly social; a large cave may have hundreds of roosting birds. Despite the numbers, the cave is often eerily quiet by day. If a roost is disturbed by an intruder, the silence is shattered by loud, shrieking, alarm calls.
The oilbird navigates its cave using echolocation, a kind of sonar similar to, but cruder than, a bat’s. Producing clicking sounds as it flies, the returning echoes build up a picture of the surroundings. These sonar clicks are of a lower frequency than those of bats and are audible to humans.
When flying at night, the oilbird relies entirely on its large, light-sensitive eyes to find its way Its flight above the trees is light, swift and undulating.
The eyes have it Outside its cave, the oilbird relies on keen vision.
Head to head Oilbirds are social birds that pair for life. They often preen each other’s head to strengthen bonds.
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BREEDING

Natural birthplace Nests are made from regurgitated food and droppings.
 Natural birthplace Nests are made from regurgitated food and droppings.
In the seasonless tropics, oilbirds breed year-round. Pairs mate for life and use the same nest every year to raise their young.Two to four eggs are laid, and both parents incubate them for 32-35 days.
Young are fed on a diet of fruit regurgitated by their parents three to four times a night This diet quickly makes ^the chicks fat, so that by 70 days, when feathers first appear they weigh about half as much ” their parents. As they master the art of flying in the darkness of their cave, the young birds steadily lose weight. Young are fledged by the time they are 90-120 days old.

CONSERVATION

Not yet endangered, the oilbird is in decline due to ongoing destruction of its tropical forest habitat — and this poses a serious threat to the bird’s future. Although the tradition of collecting nestlings for oil production is less common today, it persists in remote areas where protection is difficult to enforce.

PROFILE

Oilbird

Supertuned senses of hearing, sight and smell help the oilbird find aromatic fruit in the forest at night and locate its nest deep in a cave.
Oilbird

CREATURE COMPARISONS

Despite being half the size of the oilbird, the Eurasian nightjar, Caprimulgus europaeus, shares the same body shape and long, sickle-shaped wings. Both feed at night. The oilbird spends its days in a deep cave; the nightjar relies on its camouflage and perches, branchlike, along a tree limb.The hook-billed oilbird feeds on fruit, but the nightjar opens its tiny bill wide to catch moths and other insects on the wing, aided by stiff feathers that help funnel prey into its mouth. Both birds are strong, agile fliers, but while the oilbird can find food in its tropical habitat year-round, the nightjar flies south to Africa when the weather cools and insect prey disappear
Oilbird
Oilbird

VITAL STATISTICS
Weight 13-17 oz.
Length 1.5′
WlNGSPAN 3-4′
Sexual 1 Maturity
Breeding Season
1 year
Year-round; a peak from December-June
Number ‘ of Eggs
Incubation Period
2-4
32-35 days
Fledging Period 90-120 days
Breeding Interval 1 year
Typical Diet Fruits, mainly -from palm and laurel trees
Lifespan 12-15 years

RELATED SPECIES

• The oilbird is the only member of the amily Steatornithidae, but shares the order Caprimulgiformes with nocturnal birds, including frogmouths of Southeast Asia and Australia, poto-os of the West Indies and South and Central America, frogmouths of Australia and Papua New Guinea and the several nightjar species of Eurasia and North America.

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