Since 2004 · Licensed by the Costa Rican Tourism Board (ICT)

Keel-billed Toucan in Costa Rica

Family Ramphastidae

Keel-billed Toucan

Ramphastos sulfuratus

In Spanish: Tucán Pico Iris (Tucán Pico Arcoiris, Curré Negro)

  • Resident

Caribbean Lowlands and Arenal first, then Monteverde and the Tárcoles river. All year.

Picture a toucan and you are probably picturing this one. The bill is green with orange sides and a red tip, and it makes up about a third of the bird's whole length.

We find it most in the Caribbean Lowlands and at Arenal, usually in the morning at the top of a bare tree, and ten of our hotspot pages name it, from the mangrove boat on the Tárcoles to the canals of Tortuguero. Watch one cross a clearing. Six to ten quick wingbeats, then a glide, then again, so the flight rises and dips in waves.

Where to see it

Map of the places to see the Keel-billed Toucan and the lodges near them
  • Hotspot page
  • Named place
  • Nearby lodge (numbers match the cards)

Nearby lodges

Within 20 km of a place on the map, in the same zone.

  • 1
    Arenal Observatory Lodge0.1 km from Arenal Volcano National ParkSee the lodge
  • 2
    Arenal Oasis Ecolodge & Wildlife Refuge10.9 km from The Mistico hanging bridges at ArenalSee the lodge
  • 3
    La Selva Biological Station2.2 km from La Selva Biological Station, Sarapiquí (off the map)See the lodge
  • 4
    Selva Verde Lodge6.8 km from Tirimbina Biological Reserve, Sarapiquí (off the map)See the lodge
  • 5
    Pachira Lodge0.0 km from Tortuguero National Park (off the map)See the lodge
See all lodges in this zone →

How to recognise it

About 42 to 55 cm with the bill, half again the length of a school ruler or more. Mainly black, with a yellow neck and chest, a narrow red band at the bottom edge of the yellow, and red under the tail. Male and female look alike apart from size. The bill settles it: green, orange and red. It is one of six toucans on the Costa Rican list, and the Yellow-throated Toucan, bigger and darker, is often on the same branch. The calls are croaks, something like grr, trrii and rrrk, and a loud male can be heard a kilometre away. In 2018 researchers in Costa Rica watched one eat carrion, possibly the first toucan seen doing it.

Where it lives

The canopy of lowland and foothill rainforest, up to about 1,900 m. In Costa Rica we find it across the Caribbean Lowlands from Sarapiquí to Tortuguero and the south Caribbean coast, at Arenal, in Monteverde's cloud forest, and along the Tárcoles river on the Pacific.

When to see it

All year.

Trips that find it

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How we know this 1 sources, each read on the date shown
  1. Wikipedia: Keel-billed toucan read 4 November 2026https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keel-billed_toucan