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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