Wildlife in Costa Rica, The Toucan
The Toucan
There are 42 toucan species in Latin America and six of them are found in the Costa Rican lowlands and rainforests. The toucan’s trademark bill has made it the most recognizable bird in Costa Rica. Toucans are usually first noticed flying from treetop to treetop in small groups. The bird’s most amazing feature is its colorful and disproportionately large bill. An interesting fact is that it is mostly hollow and is used for cutting down and manipulating tree fruits. Costa Rica Car hire.
In Costa Rica, these extravagant birds can be spotted in Carara National Park, Tortuguero, Manuel Antonio National Park, and several parts of the Central Valley and Guanacaste Province.
The six species found in Costa Rica are: keel-billed, chestnut-mandibled, emerald toucanet, yellow-eared toucanet, collared aracari and the fiery-billed aracari.
Although colors and sizes vary between species, all toucans are frugivores. They like to eat fruits such as papaya, cecropia, berries and palm. They usually look for food in the middle and canopy layers of the forest and sometimes supplement their diet with eggs, small reptiles, insects and bird hatchlings.
It is important to know that toucans spread fruit seeds. They eat the fruit, and the seeds pass through their stomachs unharmed. Several forest trees do not grow under a parent tree, but grow where birds have dropped the seeds. Renting a car in Costa Rica.
Once a male toucan has attracted a female, they mate and remain together throughout the nesting season, foraging and parenting as a team. An interesting characteristic is that mating couples dote on one another, feeding their companions fruit and preening their feathers.
Toucans like to nest in tree holes and lay two to four eggs, which are incubated 16-19 days. The nestlings hatch blind and naked and are fed by both parents. They stay in the nest for about six weeks, when their beaks are completely developed and there are strong to fly. Toucans usually have two or three clutches a year.
Toucans have predators such as snakes and lizards, which often raid bird nests. Felines, such as jaguars and margays, canl also eat a toucan. To protect themselves from predators they nest and sleep in hollow tree holes. Toucans in a group will often set up a raucous chorus of noise whenever a predator is near the flock.
Toucan populations in Costa Rica are not dangerously threatened. Their main hazard is definitely the habitat loss, however there are other concerns such as hunting and illegal pet trade. Costa Rica car rental.