Anis are bizarre, coal-black cuckoos with long floppy tails and unique, very deep and broad-sided bills. They occur in tropical lowlands and foothills, in a variety of open and semiopen habitats. Smooth-billed is very similar to Groove-billed Ani, but the two species only overlap on a few Caribbean islands, southern Central America, and northern South America. Smooth-billed is slightly larger, with overall smooth sides to the bill. The typical calls of the two species are different; Smooth-billed has a hawklike, whistled scream.