Oilbirds are gregarious, nesting in colonies of up to thousands of birds. (Audio: Calls and echolocation clicks by birds in Guácharo Cave National Park, Venezuela.
Sign up for ABC's eNews to learn how you can help protect birds They awake just before dusk and leave their roosts to feed, using keen nocturnal vision and sense of smell to locate fruit, which they pluck from trees while hovering. Oilbirds spend their days in darkness, resting deep inside caves and sometimes within thick tree canopies. Like the Harpy Eagle, Golden-headed Quetzal, and Military Macaw, it is most threatened by habitat loss. The Oilbird is named for the young birds, which are so fat that indigenous people and early settlers once collected and rendered them down to oil for lighting and cooking.Īlthough the Oilbird remains common throughout its range, its forest habitats are not always effectively protected. It nests inside caves in noisy colonies, where its raspy wails give it the Spanish nickname guácharo, "one who whines or laments.” Oilbirds are in their own family but are part of a larger group of night birds including Eastern Whip-poor-will, Chuck-will's-widow, and Common Potoo.
It's a nocturnal, fruit-eating bird that uses echolocation, much like a bat, to navigate.
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