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Ivory-billed Aracari | Pteroglossus azara
Roodkeelarassari | Arasarí piquimarfil | Araçari-de-bico-de-marfim
The Ivory-billed Aracari is a medium-sized aracari of western Amazonia, with a pale, ivory bill and a dark red throat and breast. South of the Amazon the form mariae occurs, with a brown lower mandible, which is sometimes treated as a separate species. It keeps mainly to the canopy of tall forest.
Voice
A high, somewhat croaking or squeaky call, like kweek or ksee-ik, repeated in series.
Recording: Mitch Lysinger — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · xeno-canto
Identification
36–40 cm, with a long tail. The crown is black, the sides of the head and the throat dark chestnut-red. The back, wings and tail are dark green, the rump is red. A red band crosses the breast, with a narrow black band below it; the rest of the underparts is yellow. The bill is ivory to yellowish, with small dark marks along the cutting edge; in the southern form mariae the lower mandible is brown and the red on the throat and breast is less extensive. Bare, dark skin surrounds the eye. The sexes are nearly alike.
Confusion species
Lettered Aracari Pteroglossus inscriptus is smaller, with plain yellow underparts without a band and a black or chestnut throat. Chestnut-eared Aracari Pteroglossus castanotis is larger, with a largely dark bill and a red band low across the belly. Many-banded Aracari Pteroglossus pluricinctus has a black throat, a black lower mandible and two bands. Curl-crested Aracari Pteroglossus beauharnaisii has curled, glossy head feathers and a multicoloured bill.
Habitat
Tall humid lowland forest, both terra firme and várzea, also forest edges and tall secondary forest, usually below 1000 m. It lives in pairs or small groups, usually high in the crowns. It eats mainly fruit, also insects. It nests in tree cavities.
Where the bird is most at home, classified by the vegetation units of the Andes and the west coast.
Range and movements
In Colombia in the Amazonian lowlands of the south-east. In Ecuador in the eastern lowlands. In Peru in the Amazonian lowlands, with the form mariae south of the Amazon. In Bolivia in the northern lowlands. Absent west of the Andes and from the Galápagos. Outside the guide area in southern Venezuela and western Amazonian Brazil.
- Resident
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
Search from canopy towers or along rivers for small groups feeding high in fruiting trees. The pale bill and red throat also show from below.
Conservation status
Least Concern. The species is widespread in large forest areas, but suffers locally from deforestation.
Scientific name
Pteroglossus azara | (Vieillot, 1819)
Vieillot described the species in 1819 as Ramphastos Azara; because it was later moved to another genus, the author and year stand in brackets. The genus Pteroglossus was introduced in 1811 by Illiger. The genus name comes from Greek pteron, 'feather', and glōssa, 'tongue', after the frayed, feather-like tongue of these birds. The species name azara honours Félix de Azara (1742–1821), Spanish military engineer and naturalist in Paraguay and the Río de la Plata region. The specimen the first description was based on came from Brazil.