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Almond-Billed Toucan - When I walked around a corner of the Corcovado trail, I startled this toucan and he scared me back as he noisily flew his wings. This event happened many times, with other toucans, the owl, and other random big birds who scared the heck out of me as they flapped away in the middle of a quiet forest! This one didn't fly far and perched nicely on a low branch nearby. There are two types: the chestnut-mandibled toucan with a half-yellow half-brown beak, and the keel-billed toucan with very colorful beak. Both types have a red traingle patch of feathers on their butts. I think I only saw the chestnut-mandibled in the wild (at Casa Vieja and Corcovado); the others that flew in the forest didn't stay close by for me to tell the beak. Walking around for the 4th or 5th time around Zoo Ave, I heard the toucans chirping in their cages, and it was interesting to see/hear them do this up close. They jolt their beaks up in the air three or four times and open them slightly, with a whistling chirp every time (a long one as the first). They have a greak chirp that is easily identifyable from probably a mile around. I remember relaxing at the hotel at Playa Dominical and listening to these chirps all afternoon, and it was relaxing because they have a sweet soothing call. I didn't know it was a toucan then, and I said "boy that must be some special kind of bird."  Anybody just have a craving for some Fruit Loops?

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