The colourful Toucans

I came across this beautiful plate on Toucans by the American Museum of Natural History (1918), and it inspired me to write a small post. Toucans are colorful birds that can be quite chatty, but not much is known about their vocal behavior.

One species in particular, the Emerald Toucanet (Aulacorhynchus prasinus; top right) was described in 1944 by Wagner as a species with extraordinary mimicry abilities. I could not find any articles refuting this observation. It would be fascinating to discover why Wagner described them as "good mimics". Putting microphone backpacks on these sublime birds to listen to their inner lives would be a great idea (but maybe hard to achieve).

American Museum of Natural History (1918)

This is Wagner's statement extracted from The Wilson Bulletin, Jun 1944, Vol 56, No.2:

"These birds are good mimics, but they apparently imitate a given call only so long as they continue to hear the original caller from time to time. During the breeding season in the high mountains, I heard most frequently the yow yow call of the Mexican Trogon (Trogon mexicanus), the rayg rayg of the Quetzal (Pharomackrus mocinno), or the eeya eeya of the Azure-hooded Jays (Cyanolyca mitrata). In the non-breeding range, I heard none of these calls but instead the dir-rit of the common Jalapa Trogon (Trogon collaris) or the typical hoot hoot of the male Lesson's Motmot (Momotus momota lessonii). Sometimes these mimicked calls deceived me, and I would expect to see a different bird in the foliage."

On a side note, Toucans are part of the horrendous and never-ending pet trade that is taking place worldwide, and that unroots wildlife with cruelty from its wild natural home. Protecting these creatures is of utmost importance to preserve biodiversity of life and soundscapes.