Oilbird

Sightings
The Oilbird colony is one of the many highlights of a visit to the Asa Wright Centre in Trinidad. The colony can only be visited with a trained guide and it requires a walk through the forest down a steep path to the caves where the birds roost. These trips take place infrequently in order not to disturb the birds too much and the guide takes visitors in pairs into the cave where the birds can be seen by torchlight. Some 200 birds nest and roost in the caves during the day and bats may also be seen. There are nine such colonies on the island of Trinidad and that at the Asa Wright Centre is almost certainly the most accessible.

Species
Oilbird Steatornis caripensis, locally known as the guácharo, is found in the northern areas of South America and the island of Trinidad. It is the only species in the genus Steatornis and the family Steatornithidae. Nesting in colonies in caves, Oilbirds are nocturnal feeders on the fruits of the oil palm and tropical laurels. They are the only nocturnal flying fruit-eating birds in the world. They forage at night with specially adapted eyesight. However they navigate by echolocation in the same way as bats, and are one of the few kinds of birds known to do so. They produce a high-pitched clicking sound of around 2 kHz that is audible to humans. They are large birds with a length of up to 49cm and a wingspan of 95cm.

Status and Distribution
Oilbird ranges from Guyana and Trinidad to Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia and Brazil. They range from sea-level to 3,400 metres. The species has highly specific habitat requirements, needing both caves to breed in and roost in frequently, and forest containing fruiting trees. The species is of least concern with a decreasing population in a range of some 6 million square kilometres.

References
Asa Wright Centre; BirdLife; Wikipedia; World Bird Names; Kenefick, M., Restall, R., and Hayes, F. (2015) Birds of Trinidad and Tobago, Bloomsbury Publishing, page 156.

Photograph
This bird was photographed in very low torchlight and without flash with a hand held camera at 1/60th second, f5.6 at ISO 4000.