Return of Bird of the Week: Yellow-throated Toucan

Yellow-throated Toucan, Costa Rica

Another handsome, big-billed bird. When WC photographed this bird, it was a Chestnut-mandibled Toucan, but in 2009 the Chestnut-mandibled was combined with – “lumped” – the Yellow-breasted Toucan. The Chestnut-mandibled is now a subspecies. It says something about the taxonomy of Toucans that ornithologists say there are 7 to 15 species, depending on which one you are talking to.

The lumped species has a considerable range, from Honduras to western Ecuador. That extensive range is one of the reasons this is a species of least concern, presently not significantly threatened. Yellow-throated Toucan is able to tolerate some human disturbance and forest alteration, but they are still greatly affected by habitat loss. Clear-cutting for agriculture is especially devastating since toucans tend to be weak flyers and cannot cross large tracts of open land.

Yellow-throated Toucan, Costa Rica

This is a cavity nester, generally in the upper canopy, laying 2-4 eggs, that take 2-4 weeks to hatch. Time to maturity is not well documented.

WC has seen the species a dozen times but always either in very low light (the top photo) or in the canopy top, outlined against a bright sky. The challenges of jungle bird photography.

For more bird photographs, please visit Frozen Feather Images.