Tepui Toucanet
Aulacorhynchus whitelianus
Small green toucan of tepui highlands; unique in range. Appears slender and small-billed with mostly green plumage contrasting with reddish bill and chestnut tail feather tips. Found in mossy highland forest, generally above 800 meters, where groups move through canopy searching for fruit; sometimes moves with other bird species and will congregate around fruiting trees. Not particularly vocal and surprisingly easy to overlook. Call is a wailing grunt, given in a rhythmic series, sometimes for extended periods with short breaks; it is unlike any other bird vocalization in this species’s limited range.
Identification
The tepui toucanet is 33 to 41 cm (13 to 16 in) long and weighs 117 to 160 g (4.1 to 5.6 oz). Its bill is deep red and black with a vertical white line at its base and grooves on the maxilla. The sexes are alike. Their plumage is generally green, with a white throat, yellow-green undertail coverts, and some blue beneath the eye. The nominate subspecies has short dull rufous tips on the tail feathers. Subspecies A. w. duidae is larger than the nominate and larger rufous tail tips. A. w. osgoodi is smaller than the nominate, has no rufous on the tail, and has less blue beneath the eye.
Taxonomy
The tepui toucanet and what is now the chestnut-tipped toucanet (A. derbianus) were for a time considered conspecific. They were separated by major taxonomic systems beginning in 2011.<p>The tepui toucanet has three subspecies:
- Scientific name
- Aulacorhynchus whitelianus
- Authority
- Salvin & Godman, 1882
- Order
- Piciformes
- Family
- Ramphastidae
- Genus
- Aulacorhynchus
Range and habitat
The subspecies of tepui toucanet are found thus:<p>Undocumented sight records in French Guiana lead the South American Classification Committee of the American Ornithological Society to treat the species as hypothetical in that country.<p>In southern Venezuela and nearby Brazil the tepui toucanet inhabits moist subtropical montane cloudforest on tepuis. In eastern Venezuela and the Guianas it inhabits hilly tropical forest. In elevation it typically occurs between 800 and 1,800 m (2,600 and 5,900 ft). However, it has been recorded at 2,380 m (7,810 ft) on Venezuela's Cerro Roraima and as low as 380 m (1,250 ft) in Guyana and 640 m (2,100 ft) in Suriname.
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
The tepui toucanet is thought to be generally sedentary but is suspected to make seasonal elevational movements in the tepuis of Venezuela.<p>The tepui toucanet is believed to forage between the forest's lower levels and the subcanopy. Its diet is essentially unknown but is assumed to be similar to the fruit and insects of the chestnut-tipped toucanet. It is mostly seen singly or in pairs but is known to join mixed-species foraging flocks.<p>The tepui toucanet's breeding season appears to be from February to July. Nothing else is known about its breeding biology.<p>The tepui toucanet's song is "a low grunting 'grank, graank, graank...'".
Conservation
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
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Elegant, long-tailed bird with a brownish back, pale underparts, and a black chest band. White outer tail is conspicuous in flight. Found in most open habitats, especially those near water. Feeds by walking along the ground, bobbing its tail constantly. Call is a buzzy “tseeei” that is often doubled. Song is a complex jumble of different repeated notes. Similar to Mountain Wagtail but has brown rather than gray upperparts, and Cape has less white in the wings and tail. Also similar to juvenile African Pied Wagtail but lacks a white panel in the wing.
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