Tuesday, May 3, 2022

Crimson-Rumped Toucanet

I recently did a post on an "aracari." There are 14 species of aracari that are medium-sized toucans that are brightly plumaged and have large contrastingly patterned bills. I'd never heard of an aracari, or a "toucanet," the subject of today's post. There are 12 species of toucanet that are small toucans with with relatively short bills that are mainly green with touches of bold color. Overall, there are about 42 species of toucan, which include the aracari and toucanets. I'd never seen a toucan before and felt privileged to see four different species of them on our trip to Ecuador. I saw this toucanet at Amagusa Preserve in Mashpi. I was in a different area watching rose-cheeked parrots when word filtered down that a toucanet was at a feeder on the upper level. I hustled up to find this bird, my first toucan (other than a brief glimpse from very far away earlier in Panama). 

The crimson-rumped toucanet is found in small slivers of Andean forest in Venezuela, Colombia and Ecuador. 
Range map from Wikipedia
The plumage is green overall, often faintly tinged blue, with a maroon-red rump and tail-tip. The bill is black and maroon with a white band at the base. Other names for it provide additional characteristics and the connection with the aracari: chestnut-billed-emerald toucanet, crimson-rumped aracari and red-rumped green toucanet. 
Maroon bill, maroon around the eye, quite a bit of blue in the feathers, as well as some cinnamon or chestnut. Red tail-tip. 

Red rump, quite a bit of blue on the throat and chest and cinnamon on the back. 




There are two subspecies: one found in Colombia and Ecuador; and one, the one we saw, in southwestern Colombia and western Ecuador. eBird has 19,969 observations and 1,281 photos. Three of the four top photos on eBird were taken in the same general area I was in Ecuador. 

1 comment:

  1. Someone needs to teach that bird about matching accessories to an outfit. The bill does not go with the plumage.

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