Choco Toucan (Ramphastos brevis)

Identification & Behavior: ~45 cm (17.5 in). The Choco Toucan is black with bright yellow breast, throat, and cheeks. It has a white rump and red on the undertail coverts. The lower mandible is black. The upper mandible is bicolored, yellow and black. The Choco Toucan is a smaller version of the very similar Black-mandibled Toucan. The Choco Toucan and the Black-mandibled Toucan (subspecies swainsonii) have been recently documented to occur in Cerros de Amotape National Park in extreme northern Peru. If birds are not perched side by side to compare sizes, vocalizations should aid proper identification. The Black-mandibled Toucan yelps while the Choco Toucan croaks.

Status: The Choco Toucan has been recently documented in extreme northern Peru as rare in the semi-deciduous forest of extreme northern Peru in the Cerros de Amotape National Park. It is known to range at elevations below 900 m. The Choco Toucan also occurs in Co and Ec.

Name in Spanish: Tucán del Choco.

Sub-species: Choco Toucan (Ramphastos brevis), Meyer de Schauensee, 1945.

Meaning of Name: Ramphastos: Gr. ramphestes= long sword, great sword. brevis: L. brevis= Short, small, slight. In reference to this bird’s small size.

See more of the Family Ramphastidae