Grey-breasted Mountain Toucan

Overview

The grey-breasted mountain toucan, Andigena hypoglauca, is a least-concern species of bird in the toucan family found in South America. It inhabits wet temperate montane forests across Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru, playing a vital ecological role as a seed disperser in cloud forest ecosystems.

Identification

• 41 to 48 cm long with a black cap, face, and nape, a gray-blue band on the hindneck, and greenish brown back.
• Bill features a yellow to greenish base with a black band, a red outer maxilla meeting the yellow diagonally, and a black outer mandible.
• Nominate subspecies display a bright yellow rump, pale gray-blue flanks, chestnut thighs, and red undertail coverts, with brown eyes surrounded by bare blue skin.
• Song consists of a low 'gweeeeeeeat', accompanied by 'wek' or 'kek' notes and occasional bill-whacking.

Habitat

Found from central and southern Colombia into eastern Ecuador, and from eastern Ecuador south into Peru. The species inhabits wet temperate montane forest, including cloud, elfin, and secondary forests, typically at elevations between 2,200 and 3,650 m, though it ranges as low as 1,500 m in Peru.

Diet

Forages from the ground up to the canopy singly, in pairs, or in small groups, sometimes joining mixed-species flocks. Its diet includes fruit and berries, and it is assumed to also consume some vertebrates.

Did you know?

This species hosts Austrophilopterus andigenae, a species of feather louse that is specific to the genus Andigena.