TOUCANS IN MY GARDEN

Update: this toucan appears ( September, 5) on the branch of another tree, near to the palm tree.

Guess what have been visiting my garden! Beautiful toucans. In Portuguese, "Tucanos". Every morning, I have been wake up with their characteristic sound. They came to eat little fruits from a palm tree near the window of my bedroom. Here you can hear their sound. (Recorded by Aidan Maccormick. ) In this first photo you see only the palm tree near my house, without the toucans.

In this picture you can see the Toco Toucan

(Ramphastos toco)

Order: Piciformes, Family: Ramphastidae

"The Toco Toucan (Ramphastos toco) is the best known and largest member of the toucan family. They live in South American rainforests and Cerrado savannah. Toucans get their name from ‘tucano’ given to them by the Tupi Indians of Brazil. The largest species, the Toco Toucan, is about 25 inches (64 cm) long. The Toco Toucan is the largest of all the toucans, weighing in at 700 grams and is not only the largest toucan, but it is the most widespread in the wild, having a range that incorporates most of Brasil, and parts of northern Argentina, eastern Peru, and southern Guyana and Surinam."

"Toco Toucans have striking plumage with a black body, white throat and a blue eye ring. The most noticeable feature, however, is its huge yellow beak with a black tip, which looks heavy but is incredibly light because the inside is hollow. The birds are an average of 25 inches long, with their beaks that measure up to 8 inches. They have the largest bill of any toucan."

"The toucan's large bill enables it to perch inside the crown of a tree, where branches are thicker, and reach far outwards to pluck berries or seed from twigs too thin to bear their weight. Seized in the tip of the bill, food is thrown back into the throat by an upward toss of the head. Their diet consists mainly of fruit but includes insects, an occasional lizard, eggs and nestlings of smaller birds." You can see in this video a bird on a branch, rubbing its bill. (In Parque das Aves, Foz do Iguaçú, Brazil. Captive bird, recorded by J. del Hoyo / Lynx)

"Toucans are moderately gregarious and fly in straggling flocks, one after another, rather than in compact bands, like parrots. They prefer to remain high in trees, where they hop from branch to branch. They bathe in pools of rain water in hollows high in trunks and limbs. They offer food to their companions and, perching well apart, preen them with the tips of long bills."

Click on photo to enlarge to see three toucans on eucalyptus tree

"When breeding Toco Toucans search for fallen trees or holes for nesting sites. Their reproduction cycle is annual. After mating, the female usually lays 2 eggs a few days after mating."

Click on photo to enlarge and see four toucans ready to fly away

This set of photos was taken by Carlos A. Mascaro

Click on photos for an enlarged version