The Spectacular Toucans
These exotic birds are known for their shape, and brilliant coloring. When they are seen in the wild it is always an extraordinary experience. Toucans are generally first noticed flying from treetop to treetop in small groups. Their most distinctive feature is definitely their colorful, disproportionately large bill. This bill is very light and hollow, and is used for cutting down and tree fruit. Car rental Costa Rica airport
There are 42 neotropical toucan species and Costa Rica has six of them. They are the most extravagant of all Central American birds.
The gregarious keel-billed toucan inhabits lowland and mid-elevation forests throughout the country except the Pacific southwest. It has a jet-black body, blue feet, a bright yellow chest and face, beady black eyes ringed by green feathers, and a rainbow-hued beak tipped by scarlet. Rent a car Costa Rica
The chestnut-mandibled toucan is the largest of the group as it can grow up to 60 cm long–with a two-tone yellow-and-brown beak. It is found in moist forests below 2,000 feet, notably along the coastal zones, including the Pacific southwest.
There are also two species of toucanets, which are smaller: the green emerald toucanet, a highland bird with a red tail; and the black yellow-eared toucanet, found in the Caribbean lowlands.
Aracaris are smaller and have more slender beaks. Both the collared aracari and fiery-billed aracari have olive-black bodies, faces, and chests, with a dark band across their rust-yellow underbellies. The former has a two-tone yellow-and-black beak; the latter’s beak is also two tone–black and fiery orange.
Toucans are usually seen in flocks of 3 to 12. They are known for being playful, grasping each other’s bills and tossing fruit to each other. Occasionally individual fruit trees are defended by a mated toucan pair from other toucans or other bird species that are also frugivorous.
They can live in different regions depending on its species, except where there is an extensive deforestation. It is important to mention that none of the toucan species that live here are threatened. Nevertheless some toucans like the chestnut mandibled have suffered important population declines in deforested areas in Central America.
The hollow trees are also very convenient as a protection from predators. Toucans in a group will often organize a strident chorus of noise whenever a predator approaches the flock.
As frugivores they like fruits and nuts, but they might also eat insects and small lizards as well. They prefer the darkest, so ripest, fruit. Their long bill lets them perch on heavier, stable branches and reach a distance for hanging fruits. They snip the fruit off, hold it at the tip of the bill, and then, with a forward flip of the head, toss the fruit into the air and into their throats.
Their nests are usually raided by snakes and lizards. The toucan’s natural predators include hawks, jaguars and margays.
Toucans play an important role in the ecosystem because they spread fruit seeds. When they eat the fruit seed, it passes through their stomachs unharmed. Many trees grow where these birds drop the seeds, consequently they are responsible for the position of many of the trees in the forest.
Come to Costa Rica and learn more about the toucans and all the other birds that inhabit this diverse territory.