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Red-necked Aracari | Pteroglossus bitorquatus
Roodhalsarassari | Arasarí cuellirrojo | Araçari-de-pescoço-vermelho
The Red-necked Aracari is a small aracari of southern Amazonian Brazil, which in the guide area reaches only northern Bolivia. It is the only aracari with a red mantle and plain yellow belly without a band. The western form sturmii, which occurs in Bolivia, is sometimes treated as a separate species.
Voice
A high, sharp call, like kseek, and softer, rattling notes; little documented in the guide area.
Recording: JAYRSON ARAUJO DE OLIVEIRA — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · xeno-canto
Identification
35–38 cm, slim, with a long tail. The head and throat are black, with bare bluish skin around the eye. The lower throat and upper breast are red, separated from the plain yellow underparts by a narrow yellow or orange band. The mantle is red, the wings and tail dark green, the rump red. The bill is two-toned, with a pale, greenish-yellow upper mandible and a darker lower mandible; the pattern differs between the forms. The sexes are nearly alike.
Confusion species
Curl-crested Aracari Pteroglossus beauharnaisii also has a red mantle, but a crown of curled feathers, a pale, spotted face and a red band across the belly. Lettered Aracari Pteroglossus inscriptus has plain yellow underparts, but a green mantle and no red on the breast. Chestnut-eared Aracari Pteroglossus castanotis is larger, with chestnut sides to the head and a red belly band.
Habitat
Humid lowland forest on terra firme, also forest edges, secondary forest and várzea, in the lowlands. It lives in pairs or small groups in the canopy. 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 Bolivia only in the north, in the lowlands of Pando and adjacent Beni (form sturmii). Absent from Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and the Galápagos. Outside the guide area in Amazonian Brazil south of the Amazon, from the Madeira east to Pará and Maranhão.
- Resident
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
Search tall forest and forest edges in northern Pando for small groups in fruiting trees. The red mantle and plain yellow belly separate it from the other aracaris in that area.
Conservation status
Not Evaluated in this species limit. The eastern part of the range, in Brazil, is declining strongly through deforestation; the form sturmii in the west lives in an area where more forest remains.
Scientific name
Pteroglossus bitorquatus | Vigors, 1826
Vigors described the species in 1826 and placed it straight away in the genus where it still stands. 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 bitorquatus comes from Latin bi-, 'two', and torquatus, 'collared', after the two bands on neck and breast. The specimen the first description was based on came from Northeastern Brazil.