Appearance

Toucan Barbet is a New World barbet endemic to the western humid mountain forests of Colombia and northern Ecuador and is most commonly found in groups searching for fruit in the upper levels of forest edges. Its plumage is a colorful pattern of deep red and golden olive in the belly, light gray throat, neck and sides of the head, gray blue wings and tail, and a black crown interrupted by a distinct white line behind the eye, and with a small black tuft on the nape. Its bill is also quite distinctive because it is very thick both laterally and vertically and is pale yellow with a black tip.

The other species of the genus, Prong-billed Barbet (S. frantzii), has similar body dimensions since it is robust and also has a very thick bill. Prong-billed Barbet is endemic to the highlands of Costa Rica and Panama, however, and its plumage is almost completely tawny olive. Toucan Barbet is very distinctive, and is not similar to any other species within its limited range.

Toucan Barbet is a chunky, colorful barbet. These birds have facial bristles, like all other barbets, and rictal bristles, which are notably lacking in toucans. The bill is very thick and expanded in the base. The culmen curves down sharply at the tip, ending in a point, and there is a notch on the tomia just before the tip. The gonys curves upward, and the mandible ends with two lateral, raised points with a notch between them, and there is slight cut along the tomia proximal to the tip; when the bill is closed, the tip of the maxilla fits into the notch at the tip of the mandible. The wings are relatively short, and there are 10 primaries and 10 rectrices (Short and Horne 2001, 2002).

Adult: Sexes similar. Base of bill, lores, and crown black. The male has an erectile black tuft on the nape, lacking in the female. Wide white line behind the eye. Auriculars, side of the neck, and throat blue gray. Chin white. Back golden olive brown; rump similar but more yellow or golden. Tail and wings are gray blue; primaries and secondaries sooty brown, with all but the two outer primaries dark olive on the outer web. Breast and center of belly red. Sides of lower breast and flanks olive green. (Description based on Short and Horne 2001, 2002).

Fledglings: Plumage duller plumage, iris black (not crimson) and the bill lacks the hook and prong of bill of the adult (Restrepo and Mondragón 1998).

Undescribed.

Iris: crimson in adult; red brown or dark brown in immatures

Bill: Base more or less orange; rest of bill mostly pale yellow, with black or dark gray tip

Tarsi and toes: green gray or olive yellow

Bare parts color data from Gyldenstolpe (1933), Miller (1963), Hilty and Brown (1986), and Short and Horne (2001).

Total length: 19-21 cm (Short and Horne 2002), 20 cm (Hilty and Brown 1986), 21.5-23 cm (Ridgely and Greenfield 2001b)

Linear measurements (Short and Horne 2001; nominate ramphastinus):

wing length (chord): male, mean 105.9 mm (range 97-110 mm, n = 13); female, mean 104.4 mm (range 101-108 mm, n = 17)

tail length: male, mean 79.1 mm (range 73-82 mm, n = 14); female, mean 76.6 mm (range 72-82 mm, n = 16)

tarsus length: male, mean 29.6 mm (range 28.2-30.2 mm, n = 12); female, mean 29.6 mm (range 26.3-31 mm, n = 16)

bill length: male, mean 22.9 mm (range 21.5-24.4 mm, n = 13); female, mean 22.5 mm (range 20.8-23.7 mm, n = 16)

Mass (from Short and Horne 2011):

ramphastinus

male, mean 98.5 g (range 86-110 g, n = 9); female, mean 96.7 g (range 86.5-111, n = 8)

caucae

male, mean 95.9 g (range 84.3-101.5 g, n = 6); female, 91.8-96.5 g (n = 2)