Yellow-eared Toucanet

How to find it

Go in expecting patience, and take a good local guide. Because the bird is so quiet, you often have to go into the forest to find it rather than wait for it to call.

A fruiting tree is a good place to wait, since toucans guard small territories of a few branches where fruit is ripening. Early walks have paid off: at Arenal, a guide's group saw two young birds in a bare Cecropia tree and could take several photos before the birds flew off seconds later.

A guide who has led early morning walks in forest gardens near the volcano since 2004 sees it only once or twice a year, so treat any sighting as a bonus.

How to recognise it

Think of a small black toucan, the smallest of Costa Rica's larger toucan group.

The male has:

- a glossy black head and underparts

- an olive-green back

- long yellow ear tufts and yellow-orange flank tufts

- a red patch under the tail

- a pale greenish-yellow bill above and dark below

- a deep red eye

- chestnut thighs

He measures about 36 cm long, a figure given for the species across its whole range.

The female lacks the ear tufts and has a chestnut or brown crown. The national museum describes a reddish band on her head. Females are generally smaller than males.

It is the only Costa Rican toucan with a fully black throat, breast and belly.

Behaviour and diet

Unlike the noisy toucans, this one is very quiet as it moves through the forest. It usually feeds in pairs or small groups of 2 to 4, mostly from the middle levels up to the canopy.

After breeding it moves from higher to lower elevations in Costa Rica and Panama. It is not known whether all birds do this or only young ones.

A nest studied near Braulio Carrillo was in a natural cavity of a living tree, and both parents brought insects and fruit to the chicks. A flock of 11 birds, both sexes, was seen feeding in a fruiting tree near Braulio Carrillo National Park at 487 m.

Where it lives

It lives in the canopy of tall, very wet forest. It also comes down into nearby secondary forest and shaded, partly open areas, though one guide says it avoids open areas and keeps to primary forest.

That guide describes a narrow band of low to mid elevation rainforest on the Caribbean side of the continental divide. Another says it is usually met between about 150 and 1150 m. Breeding is reported between 300 and 1200 m.

It lives mainly on Caribbean slopes, reaches the Pacific slope, and is also seen in the Guanacaste cordillera.

When to see it

Breeding is reported from February to May. A northern-zone tour company says it sees the toucanet throughout the year around Bijagua, and a feeding flock was seen at about 11 in the morning on 27 August 2017.

Similar birds

The other Costa Rican toucans are larger, and the Emerald Toucanet is mostly green. The Collared Aracari is the other small toucan sometimes met in the same Caribbean lowland and foothill areas. The Yellow-eared Toucanet is the one with a plain black chest and throat, and the only one with a black body and clear male and female differences.

Names and lore in Costa Rica

The official Spanish name, Tucancillo Orejiamarillo, means little toucan with yellow ears, and some Costa Rican sources shorten it to tucán orejiamarillo. One Costa Rica guide also lists the old English name Cassin's Aracari.

Status and conservation

It is a resident (R) on the AOCR list, and the IUCN rates the species Least Concern.

Photography tips

Early morning walks have given the best chances on record, with a bare Cecropia tree giving a clear view at Arenal. Rainforest Adventures, whose forest borders Braulio Carrillo National Park, says visitors can locate the nest and, with luck, photograph the bird on a tour that does not disturb breeding.