Gray-breasted Mountain-Toucan
Andigena hypoglauca
Stunning, ornately-colored toucan of high Andean cloud forest. While the general plumage pattern is similar to other mountain-toucans, the multicolored coral, black, and yellow-striped bill separates it from all others. Eye is yellow in most of Peru, dark elsewhere in its range. Typically encountered in pairs or small groups that forage in the forest canopy. Often noisy, giving long, rising screams or short, excited yaps.
Identification
The grey-breasted mountain toucan is 41 to 48 cm (16 to 19 in) long and weighs 244 to 370 g (8.6 to 13 oz). Males and females within each subspecies have the same plumage, and the two subspecies have the same bill pattern though the female's bill is shorter. The bill's base is yellow to greenish with a black band near the base. The maxilla's outer 2/3 is red, meeting the yellow diagonally. The mandible's outer half is black. Both subspecies have a black cap, face, and nape; a gray-blue band on the hindneck; a greenish brown back; and gray to gray-blue underparts. Their tail is blackish with chestnut tips on the two or three central pairs of feathers. The nominate subspecies has a bright yellow rump, pale gray-blue flanks, chestnut thighs, and red undertail coverts. Its eye is brown and surrounded by bare blue skin. Subspecies A. h. lateralis has a paler yellow rump than the nominate, pale yellow to gray-white flanks, and a yellow to green eye.
Taxonomy
The grey-breasted mountain toucan was originally described in the genus Pteroglossus. Two subspecies are recognized, the nominate:
- Scientific name
- Andigena hypoglauca
- Authority
- (Gould, 1833)
- Order
- Piciformes
- Family
- Ramphastidae
- Genus
- Andigena
Range and habitat
The nominate subspecies of grey-breasted mountain toucan is found from central and southern Colombia into eastern Ecuador. A. h. lateralis is found from eastern Ecuador south well into Peru. The species inhabits wet temperate montane forest including cloud, elfin, and secondary forest. In elevation it mostly ranges between 2,200 and 3,650 m (7,200 and 12,000 ft) though it is found as low as 1,500 m (4,900 ft) in Peru and 1,700 m (5,600 ft) in Ecuador.
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
The grey-breasted mountain toucan is not known to have a pattern of movement.<p>The grey-breasted mountain toucan forages from near the ground up to the forest's canopy, singly, in pairs, or in small groups that might be extended families. It sometimes joins mixed-species foraging flocks. Its diet is known to include fruit and berries and is assumed to also include some vertebrates.<p>The grey-breasted mountain toucan's breeding season spans from December to February in Colombia and from June or July to November in Ecuador and Peru. Nothing else is known about its breeding biology.<p>The grey-breasted mountain toucan's song is a "low 'gweeeeeeeat'". Its calls include "wek" notes made singly or in a series, and "kek" notes in alarm or aggression. Songs and calls can include "bill-whacking".
Conservation
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
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