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Yellow-throated Toucan (Ramphastos ambiguus)Yellow-throated Toucan

Costa Rica bird species · Toucans and barbets

Toucans and barbets in Costa Rica: all 8 species, and where to see them

8 species, 2 found only in this corner of the world, and the bill to know each one by.

Costa Rica's official list has 8 toucans and barbets, in 3 families, about one bird in every 118 on it. Six of them are toucans in the wide sense: two toucans, two aracaris and two toucanets. The Keel-billed Toucan is the one from the posters, its green, orange and red bill about a third of the bird's length, and the Yellow-throated Toucan is the biggest on our pages, 47 to 61 cm with the bill, often on the same branch.

Two of the eight are regional endemics, which means they live only in this small corner of the world. The Prong-billed Barbet sings its duet in the wet, moss-hung mountain forest of Costa Rica and western Panama, and the Fiery-billed Aracari lives on the Pacific side from the Gulf of Nicoya south into western Panama.

You see most of them from a lodge porch or a boat. At Rancho Naturalista the Collared Aracari and the Red-headed Barbet come in to the morning feeders, and ten of our hotspot pages name the Keel-billed Toucan, from the mangrove boat on the Tárcoles to the canals of Tortuguero. The Yellow-eared Toucanet is the odd one out, a bird of the wet Caribbean slope that our Arenal page names.

Where to see them

The Keel-billed Toucan is named on ten of our hotspot pages, from the Highlands to the Caribbean and the Pacific. The aracaris and barbets are choosier. These are the places where we name them.

Map of Costa Rica with the 21 places where we name toucans and barbets, numbered, over the five birding zones
Los Quetzales National ParkMonteverde Cloud Forest ReserveRancho Naturalista's reserve, above TurrialbaBraulio Carrillo National ParkTortuguero National Park and its canalsThe Mistico hanging bridges at ArenalRincón de la Vieja National ParkCarara National ParkMarino Ballena National Park and Bahía BallenaLos Cusingos and the San Isidro valleyManuel Antonio National Park
© Mapbox © OpenStreetMap
  • Place where we name them
  • Highlands
  • Caribbean Foothills
  • Caribbean Lowlands
  • Northern Pacific Lowlands
  • Central and Southern Pacific Lowlands
  1. 1San Gerardo de Dota and the Savegre valleyHighlandsNorthern Emerald-Toucanet
  2. 2Los Quetzales National ParkHighlandsNorthern Emerald-Toucanet
  3. 3Tapantí National Park, above the Orosí valleyHighlandsProng-billed Barbet
  4. 4Monteverde Cloud Forest ReserveHighlandsProng-billed Barbet, Keel-billed Toucan
  5. 5Santa Elena Cloud Forest ReserveHighlandsProng-billed Barbet
  6. 6Curi-Cancha Reserve, MonteverdeHighlandsKeel-billed Toucan
  7. 7Rancho Naturalista's reserve, above TurrialbaCaribbean FoothillsRed-headed Barbet, Collared Aracari
  8. 8Arenal Volcano National ParkCaribbean LowlandsYellow-eared Toucanet, Keel-billed Toucan
  9. 9La Selva Biological Station, SarapiquíCaribbean LowlandsKeel-billed Toucan
  10. 10Braulio Carrillo National ParkCaribbean LowlandsYellow-eared Toucanet
  11. 11Tortuguero National Park and its canalsCaribbean LowlandsKeel-billed Toucan
  12. 12Gandoca-Manzanillo and the Keköldi ridgeCaribbean LowlandsKeel-billed Toucan
  13. 13The Mistico hanging bridges at ArenalCaribbean LowlandsKeel-billed Toucan
  14. 14Tirimbina Biological Reserve, SarapiquíCaribbean LowlandsKeel-billed Toucan
  15. 15Rincón de la Vieja National ParkNorthern Pacific LowlandsCollared Aracari
  16. 16Carara National ParkCentral and Southern Pacific LowlandsCollared Aracari, Fiery-billed Aracari, Keel-billed Toucan
  17. 17The Tárcoles River mangroves, by boatCentral and Southern Pacific LowlandsKeel-billed Toucan
  18. 18Marino Ballena National Park and Bahía BallenaCentral and Southern Pacific LowlandsFiery-billed Aracari
  19. 19Hacienda Barú National Wildlife RefugeCentral and Southern Pacific LowlandsFiery-billed Aracari
  20. 20Los Cusingos and the San Isidro valleyCentral and Southern Pacific LowlandsFiery-billed Aracari
  21. 21Manuel Antonio National ParkCentral and Southern Pacific LowlandsYellow-throated Toucan

The 2 regional endemics

The two you can only see in this part of the world.

Prong-billed Barbet, Fiery-billed Aracari.

All 8 toucans and barbets on the list

The full group as Costa Rica's official list has it, in the list's own order. Tick them off on the printable checklist.

Names and status: AOCR Lista Oficial 2025-2026, June 2026 update.

Trips that find them

Almost every trip we run crosses a toucan or an aracari. These name at least three of the eight on the way.

Is this bird on your list?

Tell us the birds you most want to see, your dates and how you like to travel, and one of our Costa Rica specialists comes back to you personally with a first itinerary built around them. That first version is just a place to start.

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Or call us: 1 (800) 996-1139 from the US and Canada, +506 4052-2140 in Costa Rica.

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