Lettered Aracari
Pteroglossus inscriptus
Small toucan found across southern Amazonia. Unlikely to be confused in range. Essentially dark above with entirely yellow underparts; note the bare blue skin above the eye. Named for the squiggly dark markings on the bill. Typically found in pairs or small groups in the canopy of lowland forest and edges, up into the foothills of the Andes. Often seen perched conspicuously on a snag, or foraging in a fruiting tree.
Identification
The lettered aracari is 33 to 35.5 cm (13 to 14 in) long. The nominate subspecies weighs about 100 to 130 g (3.5 to 4.6 oz) and P. i. humboldti about 110 to 185 g (3.9 to 6.5 oz). In both the male is larger than the female and has a longer bill. Their bills have a complex pattern. The nominate's has a mostly yellow maxilla with a narrow black stripe on the culmen, a wide black tip, and a series of black "script" markings along its lower edge. Its mandible is pale yellow with a wide black base and tip and a few black "script" markings near the tip. P. i. humboldti's maxilla is like the nominate's but its mandible is almost entirely black.<p>Nominate males have a black head except for bare blue, violet gray, and red skin around the eye. Their upperparts, wings, and tail are dark green except for a crimson rump. Their breast, belly, and undertail coverts are yellow with pale buff cinnamon blotches. Their tibial feathers vary from green to half green and half pale yellow. Nominate females have chestnut on their throat and the sides of their head and neck; the throat's chestnut has a narrow black band below it. Immatures resemble pale versions of the adults.<p>Both sexes of subspecies P. i. humboldti have plumage very like the nominates' except for cinnamon or rufous tibial feathers.
Taxonomy
The International Ornithological Committee (IOC), the Clements taxonomy, and the South American Classification Committee of the American Ornithological Society (SACC) recognize two subspecies of lettered aracari: the nominate P. i. inscriptus (Swainson, 1822) and P. i. humboldti (Wagler, 1827). P. i. humboldti had originally been described as a separate species, and later as a subspecies of green aracari (P. viridis). BirdLife International's Handbook of the Birds of the World treats it as a species, "Humboldt's araçari". The SACC is soliciting a proposal to adopt that treatment.<p>This article follows the IOC et al. two-subspecies model.
- Scientific name
- Pteroglossus inscriptus
- Authority
- Swainson, 1822
- Order
- Piciformes
- Family
- Ramphastidae
- Genus
- Pteroglossus
Range and habitat
The nominate subspecies of lettered aracari is found in north central Brazil south of the Amazon River between the Madeira and Maranhão rivers and from there south to northern Bolivia and the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso and the upper Tocantins River. A small separate population is in the far eastern Brazilian states of Pernambuco and Alagoas. P. i. humboldti is found in southern Colombia, eastern Ecuador, northwestern Bolivia, and western Brazil near the Amazon to the Negro River and south a bit beyond the upper Madeira River. (Note that the map shows the distribution of only the nominate.)<p>The species inhabits a variety of lowland evergreen forest types in the upper Amazon basin. These include várzea, terra firme, secondary and gallery forests, and forested islands. In elevation it generally ranges as high as about 500 m (1,600 ft) but locally occurs as high as 900 m (3,000 ft).
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
Migration pattern: Resident species.
Conservation
Population trend: declining.
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
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Rare and elusive night-heron with a bug-eyed, almost “alien,” appearance. Highly localized, seldom encountered far from its nesting colonies and roost sites. Black above with gray streaking on the chest and a clean white-and-orange head pattern, though this can be hard to see in poor lighting. Forages quietly in well-shaded forest streams, but most reliably seen in its small breeding colonies, usually hidden deep in a stand of bamboo or evergreen trees.
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Gray-chinned Minivet
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Small, slim, long-tailed songbird of montane forests, usually vocal, active, and encountered in large flocks. Males have a bright orange belly, a comma-shaped slash on the wing, and a gray head and back. Females are similarly patterned, but have paler upperparts and white throat, with the male's orange replaced by yellow. Female resembles female Long-tailed Minivet, which has yellow forehead patch, lacking in Gray-chinned. Birds in Borneo, Sumatra, and the southern Malay Peninsula average darker-headed than populations elsewhere. Most calls are soft, high, and sibilant, given in flight.
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