9-6-2023 MANDAI BIRD PARADISE, SINGAPORE - CHESTNUT EARED ARACARI (Pteroglossus castanotis)

The chestnut-eared aracari or chestnut-eared araçari (Pteroglossus castanotis) is a near-passerine bird in the toucan family Ramphastidae. It is found in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, and Peru.

The chestnut-eared aracari is a bird of the western and southern Amazon Basin. The nominate subspecies is the more northerly. It is found from southern and eastern Colombia south through eastern Ecuador to southeastern Peru, east into Brazil along the Amazon to the Rio Negro and Acre and Amazonas states. P. c. australis is found from south of the Amazon in north central Brazil south through northern Bolivia, eastern Paraguay, and northeastern Argentina's Misiones Province into southeastern Brazil to Minas Gerais, São Paulo state, and Rio Grande do Sul.

The chestnut-eared aracari is found in a wide variety of landscapes, many of which are characterized by standing or flowing water. Examples include wet forest by lakes and rivers, várzea, forested river islands, and swamp and gallery forest. It also occurs at edges, clearings, and disturbed areas of drier forest, bamboo and canebrakes, cerrado, and coffee plantations. In elevation it is mostly found below 600 m (2,000 ft) but occurs up to about 1,300 m (4,300 ft) at some Andean locations and to more than 1,000 m (3,300 ft) in southeastern Brazil.

The chestnut-eared aracari's diet is mostly fruit. It forages at all levels of the forest, plucking fruit from branches (even while hanging upside down) and investigating and probing vines, shrubs, crevices, and cavities. It also eats flowers and nectar and takes bird eggs and nestlings.

The chestnut-eared aracari's breeding season varies widely across its range, from February to September in the north and west to the opposite September to February in the southernmost population. It mostly nests in old woodpecker holes that it enlarges if needed. There is some evidence of cooperative breeding, as small groups at a nest are more common than just pairs. Its clutch size is at least two and may be as large as four. The incubation period and time to fledging are not known.