Yellow-eared Toucanet
Selenidera spectabilis
Small toucan with distinctive plumage pattern. Male has black body with bright yellow cheek patch; also note olive back and orange patch on flanks. Female similar; she lacks the yellow cheek patch but still has bright yellow-teal skin around the eye. Found in the forest canopy, usually in pairs or small family groups. Feeds on fruits, and sometimes perches conspicuously on an open branch.
Identification
The yellow-eared toucanet is 36 to 38 cm (14 to 15 in) long and weighs 175 to 245 g (6.2 to 8.6 oz). It is the largest and most distinctively plumaged member of its genus. Males and females have the same bill pattern but the female's bill is shorter. The bill has a vertical black line at its base. The maxilla is yellow with a triangle of olive brown below it narrowing from the base and horn-colored tips on the tomium. The mandible is dark olive to brownish black. Adult males have a black cap that extends down the hindneck, blue to green bare skin around the eye, and a large yellow tuft that extends back behind the eye. Their back and uppertail coverts are green and their tail blackish. They are black from their chin to their belly with a yellow patch on the flank, chestnut thighs, and red undertail coverts. Adult females have a chestnut forehead and hindneck and lack the male's yellow ear tuft. Immatures are duller than adults and the pattern on their bills is less distinct. Males' black is sooty and females' chestnut is brownish.
Taxonomy
Despite its placement in genus Selenidera, the yellow-eared toucanet might be more closely related to the mountain toucans of genus Andigena. It is monotypic.
- Scientific name
- Selenidera spectabilis
- Authority
- Cassin, 1858
- Order
- Piciformes
- Family
- Ramphastidae
- Genus
- Selenidera
Range and habitat
The yellow-eared toucanet is found from northeastern Honduras south through Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, and western Colombia into extreme northwestern Ecuador. It inhabits wet forested slopes and ridges, nearby secondary forest, and fruit trees close to the forest edge. In elevation it mostly ranges between 300 and 1,100 m (980 and 3,600 ft) but occurs as low as sea level. It also occurs as high as about 1,500 m (4,900 ft) but in Honduras is unknown above 500 m (1,600 ft).
- Migration
- Vertical migration
Behavior
The yellow-eared toucanet is known to move from higher to lower elevations after the breeding season in Costa Rica and Panama, but whether this is universal or done only by younger birds is not known.<p>The yellow-eared toucanet usually forages in pairs or small groups, and usually from the forest's mid level to the canopy. It does feed at fruiting bushes near the ground. Its diet has not been detailed but is known to be mostly fruit and also include arthropods and lizards.<p>The yellow-eared toucanet's breeding season in much of its range is from April to August; it might start somewhat earlier in Honduras and as early as February in Colombia. Courting adults sing while tossing their heads and flipping their tails back and forth. The clutch size is believed to be two to four eggs, but nothing else is known about the species' breeding biology.<p>The yellow-eared toucanet's song is "a short to long series normally of double notes, 'tik-ett'" that is sometimes accompanied by bill snapping. Pairs sometimes sing simultaneously. It also makes long and short rattles that may be either vocal or made by the tongue inside the bill.
Conservation
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
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Dendrocoptes medius
Medium-large black-and-white woodpecker. Marginally smaller than Great Spotted Woodpecker, but rounded head and shortish beak exaggerate this size difference. Both sexes are similar, with a red crown (brighter in the male) and an incomplete cheek bar. It has a rattle call: "kíg-gag-gag-gag-gag" and gives a nasal long-drawn series of “gwaaag” calls. Rarely drums. Closely tied to old deciduous forests, often in areas with an abundance of oak or beech.
Hispaniolan Oriole
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A sleek forest bird that sometimes ventures into gardens and parks in search of flowers and fruit; prefers areas with palms. The adult is distinctive—clothed in black except for patches of yellow on lower belly, shoulders, and rump. No similar species occur within its range. Immatures are muddled yellow, orange, and olive, developing adult plumage over the course of a year. This plumage resembles that of female and young Baltimore Orioles, a scarce migrant and winter visitor to Hispaniola. Similarly attired Baltimore Orioles can be distinguished by their orange underparts and white wingbars. The song is a rapid jumble of squeaky and metallic notes. Calls include a buzzy “jrrrt” and a metallic “zhwee.”
Bronze-winged Parrot
Pionus chalcopterus
A medium-sized parrot that usually looks all dark. With a good view, note the deep bluish-purple color overall with bronzy wings, messy pink splotches on the upper breast, and red undertail coverts. In flight, the bright blue underwings often stand out. Also look for the very deep wingbeats that seem to almost touch on the downstroke and barely come above horizontal on the upstroke – this helps separate members of the Pionus genus from the larger Amazona parrots. Bronze-winged is fairly common in forest and adjacent clearings in lowlands and foothills, up to around 2,500m. It is usually found in small flocks, most often seen in flight but also perched in the canopy or around fruiting trees.
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