Yard Bird

 

Here is an unusual yard bird for the United States.

 

A groove-billed Ani.  We hear or see it from the deck almost every day in the summer!

Not the best photo from the deck, but the bird doesn’t give us many chances.

 

Here is a better photo from another time.

 

It’s a tropical member of the cuckoo family.  It only migrates this far north in the summer for a few months, then disappears south all winter.  They live in small groups and all lay their eggs in one communal nest.  Everybody participates with incubating the eggs and caring for the young.