White-throated Toucan
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 Red-billed subspecies, R. t. tucanus
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| Ramphastos tucanus Linnaeus, 1758 |
The White-throated Toucan, Ramphastos tucanus, is a near-passerine bird which breeds from in tropical South America east from Colombia and Bolivia to southern and eastern Brazil.
It was formerly considered to be two species, with the nominate subspecies R. t. tucanus named as Red-billed Toucan, and the northern subspecies, R. t. cuvieri, which occurs from northeast Colombia, through Venezuela to the Guianas and eastern Brazil, , as Cuvier’s Toucan (formerly R. cuvieri, Wagler, 1827). However, the two forms, which differ principally in the bill colour, interbreed extensively in Amazonian Brazil, and merit only subspecies status.
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[edit] Appearance and behaviour
The White-throated Toucan is a resident breeder in moist lowland forest. The 2-4 white eggs are laid in an unlined cavity high in a decayed section of a living tree, or in an old woodpecker nest in a dead tree.
Both sexes incubate the eggs for at 14-15 days, and the toucan chicks remain in the nest after hatching. They are blind and naked at birth, and have short bills and specialised pads on their heels to protect them from the rough floor of the nest. They are fed by both parents, and fledge after about 6 weeks.
Like other toucans, the White-throated Toucan is brightly marked and has a huge bill. It is 61 cm long and weighs 600 g. The bill is typically 14-18 cm long.
The sexes are alike in appearance, mainly black plumaged with a white throat and breast bordered below with a narrow red line. The rump is bright yellow and the lower abdomen is red. The bare skin around the eye is blue. The bill has a yellow tip, upper ridge and base of the upper mandible, and the base of the lower mandible is blue. The rest of the bill is black in R. t. cuvieri and red in R. t. tucanus, with intergrades showing a mixed coloration.
Juvenile birds are sooty-black, and have duller plumage. They are fed by the parents for several weeks after leaving the nest.
The White-throated Toucan is very similar to the closely related Channel-billed Toucan, but the latter is smaller, has a red rump, and some races have a yellow breast. The call is the best distinction between the species. White-throated has a yelping eeoo, hue hue, whereas Channel-billed has a croaking song.
Small flocks or pairs of birds move through the forest with a heavy, apparently weak, undulating flight, rarely travelling more than 100 m at a time. This species is primarily an arboreal fruit-eater, but will also take insects, lizards, bird eggs, and other small vertebrate prey. This noisy species usually perches higher than Channel-billed or Keel-billed Toucans.
[edit] Captive birds
When pulled from the nest and hand fed as babies White-throated Toucans can eventually make pets. They do however require spacious cages to hop back and forth from because of their active nature, and require toys in their cage to prevent boredom. Their high fruit diet and sensitivity to hemochromotosis (iron storage disease) make them difficult for the novice keeper to maintain. Also they fling their fruit so a potential owner should be prepared to clean up dried fruit. They are expensive birds to maintain. This is the loudest of the toucans it has a whistling vocalization that can be irritating to some people.
[edit] References
- BirdLife International (2004). Ramphastos tucanus. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 11 May 2006. Database entry includes justification for why this species is of least concern
- Birds of Venezuela by Hilty, ISBN 0-7136-6418-5.
[edit] External links
- White-throated Toucan videos on the Internet Bird Collection
- Hear this bird sing
- Bibliography of online, ornithological articles which explore the natural history of the Red-billed toucan, Ramphastos tucanus tucanus and Cuvier's toucan, Ramphastos tucanus cuvieri.
