The black-billed mountain toucan (''Andigena nigrirostris'') is a species of

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweig ...

in the toucan family

Ramphastidae Toucans (, ) are members of the Neotropical near passerine bird family Ramphastidae. The Ramphastidae are most closely related to the American barbets. They are brightly marked and have large, often colorful bills. The family includes five g ...

. It is found in Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela.

Taxonomy and systematics

The black-billed mountain toucan was originally described in genus '' Pteroglossus''. Three subspecies are recognized, the

nominate Nomination is part of the process of selecting a candidate for either election to a public office, or the bestowing of an honor or award. A collection of nominees narrowed from the full list of candidates is a short list. Political office In the ...

''A. n. nigrirostris'' ( Waterhouse, 1839), ''A. n. occidentalis'' ( Chapman, 1915), and ''A. n. spilorhynchus'' ( Gould, 1858). ''A. n. spilorhynchus'' was originally described as the species ''Andigena spilorhynchus''. Andigena nigrirostris -Colombia-4

Description

The three subspecies of black-billed mountain toucan have almost the same plumage. They have a black cap and nape and bronzy upperparts with a pale yellow rump. Their tail is dark slate with chestnut tips on the central two or three pairs of feathers. Their face and throat are white becoming pale blue on the breast; their thighs are chestnut and their undertail

coverts A covert feather or tectrix on a bird is one of a set of feathers, called coverts (or ''tectrices''), which, as the name implies, cover other feathers. The coverts help to smooth airflow over the wings and tail. Ear coverts The ear coverts are s ...

are red. Bare skin surrounds their eye; it is pale blue before it and yellow or orange behind. Subspecies ''A. n. occidentalis'' plumage differs from that of the other two only by having darker chestnut thighs.Short, L.L. (2020). Black-billed Mountain-Toucan (''Andigena nigrirostris''), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, J. Sargatal, D. A. Christie, and E. de Juana, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.bbmtou1.01 retrieved 4 January 2023 Within each subspecies both sexes have the same bill pattern but the female's bill is shorter. The nominate subspecies has an entirely black bill. ''A. n. spilorhynchus'' has a mostly black bill with some dark red at the base and on the upper part of the

maxilla The maxilla (plural: ''maxillae'' ) in vertebrates is the upper fixed (not fixed in Neopterygii) bone of the jaw formed from the fusion of two maxillary bones. In humans, the upper jaw includes the hard palate in the front of the mouth. T ...

. ''A. n. occidentalis'' has a bill like that of ''spilorhynchus'' but the red of the maxilla extends more than half way along the culmen.

Distribution and habitat

The subspecies of black-billed mountain toucan are found thus: *''A. n. nigrirostris'', the Andes of western Venezuela and the eastern slope of Colombia's Eastern Andes *''A. n. occidentalis'', Colombia's Western Andes *''A. n. spilorhynchus'', from the Central Andes and western slope of the Eastern Andes of Colombia south through Ecuador on the eastern Andean slope into far northwestern Peru's Department of Piura. The black-billed mountain toucan inhabits a variety of landscapes including

cloudforest A cloud forest, also called a water forest, primas forest, or tropical montane cloud forest (TMCF), is a generally tropical or subtropical, evergreen, montane, moist forest characterized by a persistent, frequent or seasonal low-level cloud ...

, subtropical to temperate

montane forest Montane ecosystems are found on the slopes of mountains. The alpine climate in these regions strongly affects the ecosystem because temperatures fall as elevation increases, causing the ecosystem to stratify. This stratification is a crucial ...

, and more open areas such as croplands near forest and open sites with scattered trees. In elevation it mostly ranges between but occurs rarely down to and has been found as high as .

Behavior

Movement

As far as is known, the black-billed mountain toucan is a year-round resident throughout its range.

Feeding

The black-billed mountain toucan mostly forages in the forest's canopy, in pairs or in small family groups. Its diet is known to include several kinds of fruit and some insects, but details are lacking.

Breeding

The black-billed mountain toucan's breeding season is from August to November in Venezuela. It is from March to August in Colombia, and in Ecuador is thought to be the same or earlier. Essentially nothing else is known about its breeding biology.

Vocal and non-vocal sounds

The black-billed mountain toucan makes "nasal 'gwaaak' notes...variable, notes can be drawn out, or yelp-like". It also makes bill-rattling or clacking that may be combined with the vocalization.

Status

The IUCN originally assessed the black-billed mountain toucan as Near Threatened but since 2004 has rated it as being of Least Concern. It has a large range, but its population size is not known and is believed to be decreasing. Deforestation has left its habitat fragmented in most of its range, leading to the species' being found locally rather than continuously.