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. 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. 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…