thumb|Boat-billed heron at [[ZooTampa at Lowry Park]]
thumb|250px|Along the Tarcoles River, Costa Rica
The boat-billed heron (Cochlearius cochlearius), colloquially known as the boatbill, is an atypical member of the heron family. It is the only member of the genus Cochlearius and was formerly placed in a monotypic family, the Cochleariidae. It lives in mangrove swamps from Mexico south to Peru and Brazil. It is a nocturnal bird, and breeds semi-colonially in mangrove trees, laying two to four bluish-white eggs in a twig nest.
Taxonomy
In 1760, the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson included a description of the boat-billed heron in his Ornithologie based on a specimen collected in French Guiana. He used the French name La Cuillière and the Latin Cochlearius. Brisson placed the species in a new genus Cochlearius (with the same name as that of the species). When in 1766 the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus updated his Systema Naturae for the twelfth edition, he added 240 species that had been previously described by Brisson.
Although Brisson coined Latin names, these do not conform to the binomial system and are not recognised by the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN). However, Brisson also introduced names for genera and these are accepted by the ICZN. The boat-billed heron is now placed in Brisson's genus and has the tautonym Cochlearius cochlearius. The name Cochlearius is from the Latin , , or ' for a "spoon in the form of a snail shell".
There are five subspecies: Newly hatched nestlings have green-yellow skin, with their upperparts covered in gray down feathers. Their upper bill is black, and they have green-yellow legs. Juveniles are darker in color than adults and lack a crest.
Distribution and habitat
Boat-billed herons have a huge native range that reaches from Mexico to Peru, Brazil, and northeastern Argentina. They are nonmigratory birds that tend to live in seasonal lagoons and estuaries, and nest in mangroves.
thumb|The [[Tuxtla Statuette, a 2nd-century AD sculpture, is carved in the form of a boat-billed heron.]]
Behaviour and ecology
Breeding
Boat-billed herons breed during the rainy season and have been recorded as producing two clutches during this time, laying their first clutch in February during the end of the dry season. They usually nest in colonies but have been observed nesting solitarily. Human disturbance can decrease reproductive success, as herons tend to avoid human contact and will abandon nests if necessary. and small fish such as Dormitator latifrons, a species of sleeper goby. Other fish preyed upon include mullet, snook, and catfish.