Fiery-billed Aracari

Scientific Name: Pteroglossus frantzii

Population Estimate: Unknown, but Least Concern status

Range / Habitat: Endemic to tropical lowland moist forest in central and southern Pacific slope of Costa Rica and Panama.

Field Notes: Medium-sized toucan with bright red upper mandible. Quite similar to Collared Aracari, though range does not overlap in Costa Rica and bill readily distinguishes between the two.

Personal Notes: Seen at Manuel Antonio, Costa Rica

Black-mandibled Toucan

Scientific Name: Ramphastos ambiguus

Population Estimate: Unknown, but Least Concern status

Range / Habitat: Tropical lowland and montane moist forest in Central America and northwestern South America.

Field Notes: Large toucan with bicoloured yellow and dark bill. Easily distinguished from Keel-billed Toucan.

Personal Notes: Seen en route from Carara NP to Manuel Antonio, Costa Rica. Some sources consider this bird a distinct species, Chestnut-mandibled Toucan.

Emerald Toucanet

Scientific Name: Aulacorhynchus prasinus

Population Estimate: 50K to 500K

Range / Habitat: Prefers tropical and subtropical higher-elevation moist forest, from southern Mexico, through Central America, to northern Venezuela and along the Andes as far south as central Bolivia.

Field Notes: Unmistakable as above.

Personal Notes: One of the highlights of our trip to Tikal.

Keel-billed Toucan

Scientific Name: Ramphastos sulfuratus

Population Estimate: 40K to 500K

Range / Habitat: Tropical and subtropical lowland moist forest from southeastern Mexico through Central America.

Field Notes: Unmistakable bird with large, rainbow colored bill. Distinctive in flight as well due to the bill.

Personal Notes: National bird of Belize. We spotted it in a variety of habitats: a papaya tree in a farmer's field (above), lowland forests and scrub forests just outside of roadside villages.

Collared Aracari

Scientific Name: Pteroglossus torquatus

Population Estimate: 500K to 5M

Range / Habitat: Resident throughout Mexico, Central America, and northern South America, primarily in lowland forest.

Field Notes: Unmistakable in range, as above.

Personal Notes: We were fortunate to see many of these birds at Chaa Creek resort in the jungle of Belize. They were feasting on palm fruits which happened to be ripe the week we were there. We saw them again at Nayara Hotel at Arenal, where they were much more retiring.