Return of Bird of the Week: Fiery-billed Aricari
By popular demand, we’ll stay with Ramphastidae, the family of long-billed birds that includes last week’s Keel-billed Toucan. Here’s a Fiery-billed Aracari. Unlike the more widely distributed Keel-billed Toucan, the Fiery-billed Aracari has a pretty restricted range, limited to the Pacific slopes of eastern Costa Rica and western Panama. This aracari’s diet is somewhat catholic; while primarily frugivorous (fruit- and nut-eating), it also takes insects, as well as the eggs and young of birds as large as pigeons and woodpeckers. Fiery-billed Aracaris are cavity nesters and cavity roosters. They’ve been observed forcibly evicting woodpeckers from their nesting holes, which they…
Bird of the Week – Fiery-Billed Aricari
WC will break away from Alaska bird species for a bit and show some of the tropical species of the Western Hemisphere. The Fiery-Billed Aricari is a cousin to the better-known Toucan species. The spectacular bill has evolved to allow the bird to pluck, crush and eat fruits, berries and nuts. And it’s worth a close-up view. You can see the serrated edges in this closer view; they allow the bird to hold fruits and nuts. The bird is surprisingly delicate as it uses that big bill, plucking tiny berries and working the skin off of big fruits. The spectacular…