This is bird note.

These are the freakish snarls of the oil bird, which spends its whole life in the dark.

These birds live in caves in Trinidad and South America and fly out at night to search for food.

The oil bird is adapted to this lifestyle.

It uses echolocation like a bat to find its way in the pitch black of its cave.

And the birds have excellent night vision, rivaling that of an owls to help them forage after dark.

Fossils suggest that the oil bird diverged from other bird families more than 50 million years ago.

It has no close-living relatives.

The oil bird isn't black, as its name might suggest.

It's actually a rich brown with large white spots.

It is a hooked beak like a hawk, but it's not a meat eater.

The oil bird lives on tree fruit, especially palm nuts and avocados,

which it finds thanks to its keen sense of smell.

This diet, rich in fat and oils, leads to plump chicks and the name oil bird.

In fact, humans used to boil down the birds to make oil.

For bird note, I'm Ashley Ahern.