Birders Love Toucans, Aracaris & Toucanets - The Naturalist Journeys Blog

See the Rainbow Family Ramphastidae on tours to Central & South America!

With showstopping bills and a rainbow of feathers, it’s not surprising that cereal pitchmen chose for a mascot the Toco Toucan, one of 43 unforgettable members in the Ramphastidae family. From toucans to aracaris to toucanets, these brilliant birds are always guest-favorite sightings in their Central and South American ranges.

Toucans, Aracari & Toucanets are favorites of Central American and South American Birding — Keel-Billed Toucans are widespread, and have been spotted on our tours in Belize, Colombia, Costa Rica, Honduras, and Panama. Photo by Peg Abbott

Let’s take a closer look at this showy family, and where you can find them on upcoming tours! Five genera of birds make up the toucan family: typical toucans (8), mountain toucans (4), aracari (14), green toucanets (11) and dichromatic toucanets (6).

Beautiful Many-banded Aracari has been seen on our tours to Colombia, Ecuador. Guyana, and Peru. Photo by Patty McGann via Wikimedia Commons
Toco Toucan may be found on our tours to Argentina, Brazil and Guyana. Photo by Peg Abbott
Spot-billed Toucanet is a dichromatic toucanet, which has been seen on tours to Brazil. Photo by Jairmoreirafotografia via Wikimedia Commona
Groove-billed Toucanet has been seen on our tours to Colombia. Photo by Peg Abbott

These fruit-loving neotropicals are incredibly distinctive. Forest-dwellers that don’t migrate and spend most of their time perching, they have short wings, necks and tails, creating a compact body with powerful legs. But their most distinctive characteristic by far has to be that bill!

Collared Aracari sparring by Peg Abbott. One of the most widespread members of the family, it may be seen on our tours to Belize, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras and Panama.
Collared Aracari in flight by Daniel O’Brien.
Chestnut-eared Aracari with fruit, by Peg Abbott. It has been seen on our tours to Brazil, Panama, and Peru.

Bring the Bills

As useful as they are showy, a toucan’s bill can stretch up to four times the length of their heads. Though male toucans sometimes ‘fence’ for dominance with their bills or use them in defense of their nests, they are more a tool for feeding than fighting. Made of hollow keratin, their length may play some role in attracting a mate, perhaps because longer bills are better for gathering fruit and delivering a meal to young in the nest cavity — a signal they would be good providers.

toucan beak structure — Toucan beak structure, Lainepalmer17. via Wikimedia Commons

Breeding and Nesting

Toucans are cavity nesters, but they must hunt for naturally occurring hollows, or those made by woodpeckers or other animals, because their bills are not well-suited to excavation. Monogamous during mating season and laying one to five eggs depending on the species, both parents help incubate the eggs and care for the altricial chicks for eight or more weeks before they fledge. They won’t begin breeding their own chicks for three to four years.

a toucan at the nest — A Red-breasted Toucan at nest. Photo by Renato Machado via Wikimedia Commons. Red-breasted Toucans have been seen on our Brazil tours.

What’s that Sound?

Toucans are also NOISY. Even though they are among the world’s larger and more colorful birds, in dense rainforest there is a good chance you will hear a toucan before you see it, and it might even frighten you! Sounding more like a mammal than most birds, toucans have a grunting, almost barking call, that some say sounds like a frog. The word ‘toucan’ is said to be an imitation of a typical call, and this Toco Toucan call does sounds like the word ‘toucan’ in places! Mountain toucans are said to have a braying call, like a donkey, like this call of the Gray-breasted Mountain-Toucan. In addition to vocalizing, many toucans have a variety of clattering sounds they make with those enormous bills, clacking upper and lower mandibles together, tapping their bills on branches or rattling their tongue against their closed bills — a bit like a maraca!

Biggest and Smallest

Nearly two feet in length, the gorgeous Toco Toucan is the largest member of the family, and always a guest-favorite bird on our Brazil’s Pantanal: Jaguars! & More tours, also seen on our tours to Guyana. Toco is also the heaviest toucan, weighing nearly two pounds. The smallest toucan by length is the Tawny-Tufted Toucanet, at 12.5 inches. The lightest, at just 3.4 ounces, is the Lettered Aracari, named for the squiggly markings on its bill, resembling writing, has been seen on our tours to Peru.

Lettered Aracari is a member of the Toucan family — Lettered Aracari has been seen on our tours to Peru. Photo by Eric Gropp via Wikimedia Commons

Distribution

Forming loose flocks of up to two-dozen birds, sociable toucans are found throughout Central and South America, and also in Mexico. Colombia and Brazil are home to the most species, (20), with Peru (19) and Ecuador (17) not far behind!

Here are some images of our favorite toucans, aracaris and toucanets, and where they can be spotted on our tours!

Toucans

White-throated Toucan (image by Fernando Flores) has been seen on our tours to Colombia, Guyana, and Peru.
Choco Toucan, photo by Peg Abbott, has been seen on our Ecuador tours
Yellow-throated Toucan, by Greg Smith, has been seen on our tours in Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Panama, and Peru.
Channel-billed Toucan has been seen on our tours in Trinidad, Panama & Peru. Photo by Steve Wolfe

Toucanets

Groove-billed Toucanet may be seen on our tours to Colombia. Photo by Peg Abbott
Guianan Toucanet can be seen in tours to Guyana. Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Aracari

Black-Necked Aracari has been seen on our Guyana tours. Photo by Andrew Newberry
Chesnut-eared Aracari has been seen on our tours to Peru and Brazil. Photo by Peg Abbott

Toucans of South America

Argentina (Five Species)

Bolivia (Fourteen Species)

Brazil (Twenty Species)

Colombia (Twenty Species)

Ecuador (Seventeen Species)

Guyana (Eight Species)

Peru (Nineteen Species)

Toucans Possible on Central American Tours

Belize (Three Species)

Costa Rica (Six Species)

Guatemala (Three Species)

Honduras (Five Species)

Panama (Seven Species)

Facebook0 Tweet0 Pin0 LinkedIn0