The oilbird, locally known as the guácharo, is a bird species found in the northern areas of South America including the Caribbean island of Trinidad. It is the only species in the genus Steatornis, the family Steatornithidae, and the order Steatornithiformes. Nesting in colonies in caves, oilbirds are nocturnal feeders on the fruits of the oil palm and tropical laurels. They are the only nocturnal flying fruit-eating birds in the world. They forage at night, with specially adapted eyesight. However, they navigate by echolocation in the same way as bats, one of the few birds to do so. They produce a high-pitched clicking sound of around 2 kHz that is audible to humans.

Cueva de los Tayos is a cave located on the eastern slopes of the Andes mountains in the Morona-Santiago province of Ecuador and became infamous for reportedly having 'golden plates' that contains the history of Mankind. It owes its name to being the home of the native nocturnal birds called Tayos, which live in numerous caves in the Andean jungles of South America. The cave shot up in popularity thanks to the writings of Erich von Däniken and the 1976 BCRA expedition that Neil Armstrong took part in. Despite numerous expeditions, these plates have never been recovered or photographed. The consensus from the archeological community is that the Golden Library was a hoax.