Profile
In flight
Nightbirds
Oilbird
Steatornis caripensis
- epic
- 43 km/h
- Least Concern
The only nocturnal fruit-eating bird that echolocates in caves. Chicks were once so fat they were boiled for lamp oil.
- Population
- 20,000-49,999 mature individuals (stable trend, 1970-2017)
- Habitat
- Neotropical lowland and montane moist forest; roosts and breeds colonially (often in colonies of thousands) in caves and other dark subterranean sites, foraging nocturnally in surrounding forest canopy; recorded from sea level up to about 3,400 m elevation.
- Fun fact
- The Oilbird is one of very few birds known to echolocate, emitting sharp audible clicks (~2 kHz) to navigate in total darkness inside the caves where it roosts and nests in large colonies.
- Range
- Northern and western South America and Trinidad & Tobago: Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Brazil, Guyana, and Trinidad and Tobago, with Panama and Costa Rica at the range edge; rare vagrant further into Central America/Caribbean. Extent of occurrence approximately 5.83 million km².
- Diet
- Strict frugivore — the only nocturnal fruit-eating bird in the world. Feeds on large lipid- and energy-rich fruits from three plant families: palms (Arecaceae), laurels (Lauraceae), and Burseraceae. Swallows fruit whole, digests the pulp, and regurgitates the seeds at daytime roosting/nesting sites (an important seed-dispersal role for tropical forests).
- Size
- 0.45 m
- Wingspan
- 1 m
