Keel-billed toucan at National Aviary of Colombia - "The flying banana" bird.

This is the best photo of a toucan I managed to get in all of Middle America.

This bird is not the same one as Sam, the Fruit Loops toucan.  The colours are all wrong, and the bill's colours are not in concentric circles.  While not the largest toucan, the keel-billed toucan is a good size, reaching up to 22 inches in length; a third of that length is the bill.  It is found in southeastern Mexico, about half of Central America, and parts of Venezuela and Colombia.  

As you probably know, the toucan is a prime consumer of fruit.  It is considered frugivorous, meaning it consumes a diet made mostly of fruit.  Figs happen to make up a large part of its diet, but it also eats bananas, papayas, berries, cherries, and some fruits you have never heard of.  However, its diet doesn't end there, as invertebrates and small vertebrates are also included.  The vertebrates include small snakes and lizards, but they will also take eggs, young chicks, and tree frogs.  As a general rule, they do not eat poison arrow tree frogs, as they may become ill, but generally do not die.  

The number of keel-billed toucans is actively decreasing.  They are captured for the pet trade and have experienced significant habitat loss.  They are listed as "near threatened."  Other sources of decline include being hunted for meat, collected by bill collectors (not the money type, the beak type), and deforestation.  

In 2016, the keel-billed toucan was not considered under threat.  That changed in 2021 when it was determined that there had been significant population loss.  CITES (click here for more information) is an organization that helps prevent the international pet trade of endangered birds and animals.  It was added to the list in 1981, as were many other toucan species.

In spite of efforts to reduce the decline of the species, their numbers continue to fall.  It may not be long before the species transcends "near threatened" to "threatened".  The keel-billed toucan is currently listed under Appendix II criteria.  Appendix I criteria means that the species is now threatened with extinction.  Let's hope that doesn't ever happen.

Thanks for reading.

Eric Svendsen     www.ericspix.com