Smooth-billed Ani: Danta Corcovado Lodge, Osa Peninsula, Costa Rica, December 2022 — Also on the way back from our morning excursion to find the Yellow-billed Cotinga, we stopped by a wet field just as you turn off the main road toward the lodge with cattle, Cattle Egrets, and lots of back-birds, including a couple of Smooth-billed Anis. The Anis in Costa Rica are well separated geographically, at least according to the range maps in both field guides to the birds of Costa Rica that I have, with the Grove-billed occupying the larger territory on the Caribbean slope and half way down the Pacific…then maybe somewhat of a gap before the Smooth-bill takes over in the southern lowlands, on the Osa Peninsula and down to the Panama border. The Smooth-billed is predominantly a South American Bird, only reaching up into Central America in the south, while the Groove-billed has a range that covers from South Texas in the US, trough all of Central America, and well down the west coast of South America. However, the ranges on eBird, which rely on field reports, are not so clearly defined, especially on the Osa, where both birds are regularly reported. This does look like a Smooth-billed to me though…with that big crest on the bill. What remains of the tail is too scraggly to see whether it is square or rounded. 🙁 Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Photo and Apple Photos. ISO 100 @ f4 @ 1/500th.