Order
Piciformes
Family
Semnornithidae
Genus
Semnornis
 
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Version 1.0

This is a historic version of this account.  Current version

SPECIES

Toucan Barbet Semnornis ramphastinus

Cristina Rueda, Ana María Pardo, and Aura Viviana Buitrago
Version: 1.0 — Published April 4, 2014

Behavior

Introduction

While feeding, Toucan Barbets crush berries in their bill to retrieve the contents and then they discard the skin (Short and Horne 2001). When eating nectar they hold tubular flowers in their feet and squeeze the nectar out using their bill (Restrepo 1990).

Toucan Barbets hop on low branches, often cocking their tails, and then they gradually climb upwards in search for fruits and insects. Sometimes they forage individually but usually they do so in pairs or in groups and occasionally in flocks with other species, such as warblers, mountain tanagers, and flycatchers, that pass through their territory. They spend approximately 12 hours a day foraging. At one site in southwestern Colombia, barbets left the roost cavity at ca 06:00, duet, and then commence foraging. The barbets return to the roost at ca 18:00 and spend one to thirty minutes at the entrance of the cavity before entering (Short and Horne 2001).

Territoriality

Toucan Barbets occupy territories of about 12 to 16 ha of montane forest (Restrepo 1990). In mixed cultivation and secondary forests, territories probably are smaller (Short and Horne 2001). These areas are protected from other groups of toucan barbets in adhering territories by violent shrieks and attacks or by pair duetting (Restrepo and Mondragón 1998).

The territorial groups consist of six individuals, including the breeding pair and usually their offspring of previous years (Restrepo and Mondragón 1998). However, barbets may transgress territorial borders if they find abundantly fruiting trees in adjacent territories. This behavior can especially be noted if the group of the adjacent territory is foraging elsewhere (Short and Horne 2001).

Sexual Behavior

Toucan Barbets are cooperative breeders (Restrepo and Mondragón 1998). Abruptly cocking the tail and turning about is a characteristic movement of toucan barbets so this movement can be important in species recognition, especially within a dense tropical forest (Short and Horne 2001).

Social and interspecific behavior

Groups of Toucan Barbets are smaller during the breeding season than during the nonbreeding season. Usually forages singly or in pairs, that usually ravel independently, but that on occasion associate with mixed species flocks (Hilty and Brown 1986, Short and Horne 2001, Ridgely and Greenfield 2001b).

Predation

Plate-billed Mountain-Toucan (Andigena laminirostris) is most important predator at Toucan Barbet nests; the mountain-toucan usurps barbet nest cavities and prey on barbet eggs and nestlings (Restrepo and Mondragón 1998). At one site in southwestern Colombia, 25% of nests fail during incubation, and 14% fail after hatching (Short and Horne 2001 [based on work by Restrepo?). Other potential predators are white-faced capuchins (Cebus capucinus), red squirrels (Sciurus granatensis), and Neotropical dwarf squirrels (Microsciurus sp.) (Restrepo and Mondragón 1998).

Recommended Citation

Rueda, C., A. M. Pardo, and A. V. Buitrago (2014). Toucan Barbet (Semnornis ramphastinus), version 1.0. In Neotropical Birds Online (T. S. Schulenberg, Editor). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/nb.toubar1.01