---
title: "Boat-billed Heron"
description: "Cochlearius cochlearius — Birds. The boat-billed heron (Cochlearius cochlearius), colloquially known as the boatbill, is an atypical member of the heron family."
canonical: https://animalchecklist.com/animal/boat-billed-heron
last_updated: 2026-09-20
---

# Boat-billed Heron

> Cochlearius cochlearius — Birds. The boat-billed heron (Cochlearius cochlearius), colloquially known as the boatbill, is an atypical member of the heron family.

- Scientific name: *Cochlearius cochlearius*
- Category: `birds` (Birds)
- Habitats: `freshwater` (Lakes & rivers)
- iNaturalist observations: 5510
- Wikidata: [Q210341](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q210341)
- iNaturalist taxon: [5036](https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/5036)

## Names

- en: Boat-billed Heron
- de: Kahnschnabel
- es: Garza cucharón
- fr: Savacou huppé
- nl: Schuitbekreiger
- pt: Arapapá
- pl: Rakojad

## Countries with the most observations

CR (2152), MX (1503), BR (356), PA (307), BZ (226), HN (143), GT (85), PE (81), CO (68), NI (66), EC (55), BO (47)

## Summary

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.

Text: Wikipedia (en), CC BY-SA 4.0 — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boat-billed_heron

## Photo

![Boat-billed Heron](https://animalchecklist.com/img/animals/boat-billed-heron/medium.jpg)

Photo: Wouter Koch · CC0 · inaturalist — https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/4742274

## Machine access

`GET https://animalchecklist.com/api/v1/animals/boat-billed-heron?lang=en` — see [openapi.json](https://animalchecklist.com/openapi.json).