Toucan

A toucan bird’s curvedcolorful beak makes it hard to overlook. They are omnivores that eat insectseggsand fruit. These birds can live up to 12 to 20 yearswith the higher end of this range more commonly reached in captivity than in the wild. They inhabit the tropical forests of South America and Central America.

4 Amazing Toucan Facts

• Toucan birds are poor fliers
• A toucan’s beak is hollow
• A toucan’s tongue is similar to a feather that pushes food down its throat
• Five or six toucans can huddle together in one hollow tree

Where to Find the Toucan

Toucan birds are found in tropical forests in South America and Central America. Specificallythey live in BoliviaBrazilArgentinaFrench GuianaPeruParaguayUruguayGuyanaand Suriname. The channel-billed toucan lives in Trinidad. These birds inhabit warm climates with high rainfall. Normallythey remain in the highest parts of the treescalled the canopy. They can live in mountainous areas as well.

Costa Rica is a popular place for bird lovers to observe these birds. The keel-billed toucanscientific name Ramphastos sulfuratus, can be seen in the CartagoTurrialbaand Monteverde mountains. They are usually found at an elevation of 1600 to 5000 feet.

Carara National ParkCano Negro Wildlife Refugeand Tortuguero National Park are other places to see keel-billed toucans and other species of this colorful bird at any time of the year.

Having an experiencedlocal guide along can help you tour spots that are most likely to have gatherings of toucans.

Nests

Toucan birds make nests in small holes high up in hollow trees. They sometimes put a thin layer of grass or regurgitated seeds inside the hole as a lining for the nest. Toucans don’t make holes in trees. Insteadthey make their nests in holes created by woodpeckers or other animals.

Scientific Name

The toucan is classified in the family Ramphastidae. The word comes from the scientific genus name Ramphastos and is derived from the Greek word “ramphos”meaning “bill”.  The family includes five genera and over 40 different species. Genera in the family are: AndigenaAulacorhynchusPteroglossusRamphastosand Selenidera.

Evolution

Interestinglythere are no known fossils of toucans (Ramphastidae) except for some remains found of a toco toucanwhich date to the Pleistocene Epochabout 2.6 million to 11,700 years ago. Toucans are believed to share an ancient ancestor with barbets.

Species of toucans developed during times when dry forests and tropical forests expanded. As these habitats grewsome animals formed rapidly while others disappeared.

Toucans are believed to have undergone convergent evolutionwhere distantly related species independently evolve similar traits.

Types of Toucans

There are over 40 species of toucanwith 22 of them appearing below:

• Yellow-throated toucan (Ramphastos ambiguus): This toucan bird calls the Andes’ eastern slopes homeand can be found in ColombiaEcuadorPeruand Venezuela. It is rather adaptable and at home in tropical and subtropical forests. It has glossy black abdominalheadand lower chest feathersbright yellow feathers on its throat (which extend to the front of its face)and a diagonally slashed beak in the same brilliant yellow above black. This lends to an especially striking appearance (which is further enhanced by the bright green mask around its eyes). The yellow-throated toucan is very fond of fruitalthough it will not turn its beak up at small reptilesrodentsor insects. This bird is listed as Least Concern.
• Channel-billed toucan (Ramphastos vitellinus): Found in BoliviaBraziland even the Caribbean (Trinidad)this toucan bird can be recognized by the splash of rich yellow on its chest with a paler halo around itwhich extends up to its face. Therethe paleness morphs into a brilliant blue that extends to the base of its beak. In addition to a fondness for warmwet environmentsit is also rather partial to fruit despite being an omnivore — just like its yellow-throated cousin. This bird is listed as Least Concern.
• Chestnut-mandibled toucan (Ramphastos ambiguus swainsonii): This colorful bird happens to call ColombiaEcuadorand Honduras home. It is rather similar to the yellow-throated toucanalbeit with less vivid coloring. Howeverit has the same yellow chestalthough its feathers tend to be the color of egg yolkwith swirls of paler coloring. The yellow of its upper beak is richer yetwhile its lower beak is chestnut rather than a gleaming black. Considered to be especially talkativethe chestnut-mandibled toucan is mostly frugivorousalthough it also enjoys sampling eggsfrogsand lizards.
• Toco toucan (Ramphastos toco albogularis): Native to BoliviaArgentinaParaguayand Brazil.
• Toco toucan (Ramphastos toco toco): Native to BrazilParaguayBoliviaand Argentina.
• Red-billed toucan (Ramphastos tucanus tucanus): Native to Venezuela, GuyanaBolivia, and Brazil.
• Cuvier’s toucan (Ramphastos tucanus cuvieri): Native to ColombiaVenezuelaBraziland Bolivia.
• Black-mandibled toucan (Ramphastos ambiguus abbreviatus): Native to PeruEcuadorColombiaVenezuela.
• Black-mandibled toucan (Ramphastos ambiguus ambiguus): Native to ColombiaVenezuelaand Peru.
• Keel-billed toucan (Ramphastos sulfuratus sulfuratus): Native to MexicoBelizeand Guatemala.
• Keel-billed toucan (Ramphastos sulfuratus brevicarinatus): Native to Central AmericaColombia, and Venezuela.
• Channel-billed toucan (Ramphastos vitellinus vitellinus): Native to VenezuelaBrazilBoliviaand Trinidad. Its upperpartsbellytailand most of the bill are blackwith the uppertail and undertail coverts red. The bare eye-patch and bill base are blueand the throat is white.
• Yellow-ridged toucan (Ramphastos vitellinus culminatus): Native to Brazil and Bolivia. The base of its bill is yellowthe skin around the pale blue eye is redand the entire throat and chest are orange.
• Ariel toucan (Ramphastos vitellinus ariel): Native to Brazil and Bolivia. It has a yellow base of the upper mandible and culmenorange-yellow upper tail covertsand the throat and breast are white.
• Citron-throated toucan (Ramphastos vitellinus citreolaemus): Native to Colombia and Venezuela. It has a clear yellow tinge to the throata green tinge to the otherwise blue culmen that’s yellow at the tipand a blue base to both the upper and lower mandible.
• Choco toucan (Ramphastos brevis): Native to Ecuador and Colombia. It has a long yellow and black beaka yellow bibwhite upper tail covertsred undertail covertsand green ocular skin.
• Green-billed toucan (Ramphastos dicolorus): One of the smallest species of toucan.  Its breast is orange with yellow at the sides. The beak is pale greenish-horn.
• Grey-breasted mountain toucan
• Plate-billed mountain toucan
• Hooded mountain toucan
• Black-billed mountain toucan
• White-throated toucan

SizeAppearance & Behavior

The most notable feature of the bird is its beak. One look at this bird’s skeleton reveals a hollow beak with thin bones supporting it. Furthermoreit has pointy edges like a serrated kitchen knife. This allows toucans to bite into tough fruit and other items of food. In terms of colorthis bird’s beak can be a mixture of yelloworangegreenblueredand blackdepending on its species. A smaller predator seeing this bird’s large and colorful beak may not want to approach it.

The feathers on this bird’s body are mostly black with splashes of blueyellowand red in different areas. As an examplea keel-billed toucan has black feathers on most of its bodya yellow chestand red tail feathers. Plustheir feet are blue! As a notethe bird has two toes pointing forward and two facing backward. This design helps them hang onto branches. Plustheir unique feet allow them to easily jump from one branch to the next.

These birds can measure up to 25 inches long with a beak that can be 7.5 inches in length. Study the skeleton of the average-sized toucan and you’ll see its beak is equal to about one-third of the size of its body. Some species of this bird weigh up to 9 pounds. Their wingspan runs from 43 to 60 inches.

It may seem like its brightly colored beak and feathers would make this bird vulnerable to predators in a forest habitat. Howevertropical vegetation can be colorful as well. Consequentlythese birds can blend into their habitat and avoid predators.

Migration Pattern and Timing

These birds don’t migrate. They are called resident breedersmeaning their breeding season takes place in the same region where they live year-round. Breeding for these birds takes place in the spring.

Diet

These birds are classified as omnivorousbut some scientists refer to them as frugivores because their main diet is fruit.

What do toucans eat?

Along with fruitthey eat insectsamphibiansand small reptiles. Alsotoucans are known to eat eggs and hatchlings stolen from the nests of other birds. This stealing behavior classifies them as opportunistic feeders. When they see the opportunity to take foodthey do!

Due to their diet of fruitthese birds play an important role in the ecosystem. After eating fruitthey leave behind seeds in their wastecausing more vegetation to grow.

Predators and Threats

Though its beak is largethis is a relatively small birdwhich means it has a collection of predators in its habitat.

What eats toucans?

Jaguarscoatissnakesand eagles are predators of the bird. Not coincidentallyall of these animals have access to the treetops where toucans live.

Another threat faced by these birds is habitat loss due to deforestation. Plusthey are sometimes captured as pets. These animals usually die when kept in households as pets. They need special care and were never meant to be pets.

ReproductionBabiesand Lifespan

The breeding season of these birds takes place in the spring. One of the most interesting facts about this bird is its mating ritual. This ritual involves a male and a female tossing a piece of fruit to each other.

The birds lay from 2 to 4 eggs per year. The mother and the father take turns sitting on the nest. The incubation period of the eggs ranges from 15 to 18 days. The babiesalso called chicksare born without feathers and are unable to see. Their eyes open at about 3 weeks old. The chicks stay with their parents for 6 to 8 weeks.

These birds are sexually mature at 2 to 4 years olddepending on the speciesand can live up to 20 years in captivity.

Habitat

Toucans are native birds to the Neotropics in Southern Mexico through Central America. They can also be found in South America and south to northern Argentina. They mostly live in the lower tropicsbut the mountain species from the genus Andiegena can sometimes reach higher altitudes in the Andes and can be found in taller trees.

For the most parttoucans are a species of bird found in the forest and are usually restricted to primary forests. They will sometimes enter secondary forests to forage and find foodbut are limited due to their breeding grounds being inside of those large forest trees with holes big enough to breed in.

The only non-forest living toucan is the toco toucanwhich can be found in the savannah in patches of forests and woodlands.

Population

The population of these birds is unknown. Howeveraccording to the IUCN Red List of Threatened Speciesthis bird is described as ‘fairly common’ in its environment.

The conservation status of the toco toucan is Least Concern with a decreasing population.