Return of Bird of the Week: Toucanets
There is another family of big-billed birds, although their bills are slightly smaller than Toucans. They are called, appropriately enough, Toucanets.
Blue-banded Toucanet, East Slope of the Andes, Peru
In WC’s experience, these smaller birds are shyer than their bigger cousins, and even more likely to skulk in dense foliage. While Toucanets are reportedly generalists, eating a wide variety of fruits and nuts, every one that WC has seen has been in a Cecropia tree. The Blue-banded Toucanet is found in Bolivia and Peru.
Crimson-rumped Toucanet, Amazon, Peru
The Crimson-rumped Toucanet is a cousin, generally with a more northerly range. WC photographed this bird at the very southern limit of its range, where the foothills of the east Andes drop down to the Amazon basin. This is a noisy species; you usually hear them before you see them.
Northern Emerald Toucanet, Costa Rica
This is not a very good photo; it dates back to WC’s Olympus equipment and those cameras’ wretched management of dark birds against bright skies. The photo is from Costa Rica, but the species is found up in to central Mexico. Note this bird, too, is in a Cecropia tree.
There are 18 species of Toucanets in all. WC has a ways to go with this small sub-family of birds. The taxonomy of Toucanets is a matter of fierce debate among ornithologists. The International Ornithological Union – the authority WC uses – currently counts 18 species across three genuses. But others put the count at just seven species. Hey, if ornithology was easy, it wouldn’t be as much fun.
For more bird photographs, please visit Frozen Feather Images.