23-3-2017 TROGON LODGE COSTA RICA - YELLOW THROATED TOUCAN (Ramphastos ambiguus)

The yellow-throated toucan (Ramphastos ambiguus) is a Near Threatened species of bird in the family Ramphastidae, the toucans, toucanets, and aracaris. It is found from Honduras south into northern South America and beyond to Peru.

The subspecies of yellow-throated toucan are found thus:

R. a. swainsonii, from southeastern Honduras through Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, and western Colombia to southwestern Ecuador

R. a. ambiguus, from southwestern Colombia on the eastern slope of the Andes to south-central Peru

R. a. abbreviatus, northeastern Colombia and northwestern and northern Venezuela

The "chestnut mandibled" R. a. swainsonii primarily inhabits lowland evergreen primary forest and also occurs in gallery forest, older secondary forest, and well-treed parks and gardens. It shuns dry forest and large open areas but can be found in plantations with fruiting trees that border forest. The two "black-mandibled" subspecies are usually found in the interior of humid primary montane forest but also occur at its edges and clearings and in older secondary forest. In Ecuador the "chestnut-mandibled" is found from sea level to 1,000 m (3,300 ft), in Colombia below 2,000 m (6,600 ft), and in Costa Rica to 1,200 m (3,900 ft). The "black-mandibled" occurs between 1,000 and 1,600 m (3,300 and 5,200 ft) in Ecuador and up to 2,500 m (8,200 ft) in Colombia.