The plate-billed mountain toucan (''Andigena laminirostris'') 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 lightweigh ...

in the 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 gen ...

. It is native to the west slope of Ecuador and extreme southern Colombia, where it lives in the high-altitude humid mountain

forest A forest is an area of land dominated by trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, and ecological function. The United Nations' ...

s of the

Andes The Andes, Andes Mountains or Andean Mountains (; ) are the longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range is long, wide (widest between 18°S – 20°S ...

. Common names of the species include- laminated hill-toucan, laminated mountain-toucan, and plain-billed mountain-toucan.

Description

Plate-billed Mountain-Toucans have a large laterally compressed bill, the front half of which is black and the back half is mostly red with a raised yellow plate on the upper mandible, a unique feature for which the bird was named. They have a reddish brown iris and a bare ocular area that is yellow below and turquoise green above. The crown and nape are black and the rest of the upper parts are bronzy olive. The side of the neck and underparts are blue gray with a yellow patch on the flanks which is partially covered by the wings. There is a yellow rump patch, and its tail is black with chestnut tips. The crissum (area around the vent) is bright red, and the thighs are brownish maroon. The plate-billed mountain toucan is about 42 to 53 centimeters (16.5 to 21 inches) in length, with a relatively lightweight

bill Bill(s) may refer to: Common meanings * Banknote, paper cash (especially in the United States) * Bill (law), a proposed law put before a legislature * Invoice, commercial document issued by a seller to a buyer * Bill, a bird or animal's beak Plac ...

up to 10 centimeters long. The average male weighs about 314 grams (11.1 ounces) and the female about 303 grams (10.7 ounces). It is zygodactylous, with two toes facing forward and two pointing back.

Vocalizations

This is the most vocal of the mountain toucans, and the sexes often duet. The male makes a loud, repeating "''tryyyyyyyk''" sound and the female makes a drier "''t't't't't't't't''" noise. The bird utters rattles and clicks loud enough to be heard from over a kilometer away.

Distribution and habitat

Plate-billed mountain toucans are found in the western foothills of the Andes of western Ecuador and far southwestern Colombia. In Colombia, they are found from Pita Canyon ( Narino) in southwestern Colombia and south to the northwestern border of

Morona-Santiago Province Morona Santiago () is a province in Ecuador. The province was established on February 24, 1954. The capital is Macas. Economy The provincial economy is industrially unexploited to its potential due to poor means of transportation. Its economy ...

, in Ecuador. Plate-billed mountain toucans inhabit the humid forest and edges of the temperate forest of the lateral slope of the Andes Mountains. The humid forest features abundant epiphytes,

bromeliad The Bromeliaceae (the bromeliads) are a family of monocot flowering plants of about 80 genera and 3700 known species, native mainly to the tropical Americas, with several species found in the American subtropics and one in tropical west Africa, ...

s and

moss Mosses are small, non-vascular flowerless plants in the taxonomic division Bryophyta (, ) '' sensu stricto''. Bryophyta (''sensu lato'', Schimp. 1879) may also refer to the parent group bryophytes, which comprise liverworts, mosses, and hor ...

es. These forests receive an average of 14 feet of rainfall per year and the canopy ranges from 6 to 10 meters high. Their altitudinal range is between 1600 and 2600 meters above sea level, and has been observed several times at 3100 meters elevation in Imbabura (Ecuador). Because of its altitudinal range, plate-billed mountain toucans share their ecological niche with the

Andean cock-of-the-rock The Andean cock-of-the-rock (''Rupicola peruvianus''), also known as ''tunki'' (Quechua), is a large passerine bird of the cotinga family native to Andean cloud forests in South America. It is widely regarded as the national bird of Peru. It has ...

. Their estimated life area is 14300 km2.

Behaviour and ecology

Breeding

The breeding season extends from March to October, peaking in May through August. The bird nests in tree cavities up to 30 meters above the ground. The clutch contains 2 or 3 white eggs. The eggs are incubated for about 16 days and the young

fledge Fledging is the stage in a flying animal's life between hatching or birth and becoming capable of flight. This term is most frequently applied to birds, but is also used for bats. For altricial birds, those that spend more time in vulnerable c ...

at 46 to 60 days. Once the young depart, the pair may rear a second brood.

Food and feeding

The plate-billed mountain toucan feeds mainly on fruit, and occasionally eats insects and eggs as well. It disperses the seeds of plants such as the mountain understory shrub '' Faramea affinis''Restrepo, C. and A. Vargas. (1999)
Seeds and seedlings of two neotropical montane understory shrubs respond differently to anthropogenic edges and treefall gaps.
''Oecologia'' 119(3) 419-26. and the

palm Palm most commonly refers to: * Palm of the hand, the central region of the front of the hand * Palm plants, of family Arecaceae **List of Arecaceae genera * Several other plants known as "palm" Palm or Palms may also refer to: Music * Palm (ba ...

Prestoea acuminata ''Prestoea acuminata'' is a species of palm tree native to Central America, the West Indies and South America. It was formerly widely harvested in Ecuador for palmito. However, the palm is now uncommon due to overharvesting and is no longer com ...

''.Gamba-Trimiño, C., et al. (2011)
Demography of the clonal palm ''Prestoea acuminata'' in the Colombian Andes: sustainable household extraction of palm hearts.
''Tropical Conservation Science'' 4(4) 386-404. There has been a report of the bird eating a

caecilian Caecilians (; ) are a group of limbless, vermiform or serpentine amphibians. They mostly live hidden in the ground and in stream substrates, making them the least familiar order of amphibians. Caecilians are mostly distributed in the tropics of ...

(''

Caecilia ''Caecilia'' is a genus of amphibians in the family Caeciliidae Caeciliidae is the family of common caecilians. They are found in Central and South America. Like other caecilians, they superficially resemble worms or snakes. Although they ...

'' sp.)Solano-Ugalde, A. (2011)
The Plate-billed Mountain Toucan (''Andigena laminirostris'') feeding on a ''Caecilia'' spp (Gymnophiona: Amphibia).
''Boletín SAO'' 20(2) 43-5.

Status

While it is still a fairly common species, the Plate-billed mountain toucan is considered

Near Threatened A near-threatened species is a species which has been categorized as "Near Threatened" (NT) by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as that may be vulnerable to endangerment in the near future, but it does not currently qualify fo ...

by the IUCN and is in decline because of habitat being lost to

deforestation Deforestation or forest clearance is the removal of a forest or stand of trees from land that is then converted to non-forest use. Deforestation can involve conversion of forest land to farms, ranches, or urban use. The most concentrated d ...

. It is also poached for the trade in exotic birds. The plate-billed mountain toucan is the flagship bird of the La Planada Nature Reserve in Colombia.Vallejo, M. I., et al. (2004)
La Planada forest dynamics plot, Colombia.
Tropical Forest Diversity and Dynamism: Findings from a large scale plot network.

References

* BirdLife International (2008). «'Andigena laminirostris'». Lista Roja de especies amenazadas de la UICN 2010.4 (en inglés). Consultado el 19 de noviembre de 2010 * Ridgely, Robert S. and Paul J. Greenfield (2001) "The Birds of Ecuador" Vol. II, Cornell University Press.

Footnotes

External links

''Andigena''.
ITIS
Plate-billed Mountain-toucan, ''Andigena laminirostris''.
BirdLife International. {{Taxonbar, from=Q762935

plate-billed mountain toucan The plate-billed mountain toucan (''Andigena laminirostris'') is a species of bird in the family Ramphastidae. It is native to the west slope of Ecuador and extreme southern Colombia, where it lives in the high-altitude humid mountain forests of ...

Birds of the Ecuadorian Andes

Taxonomy articles created by Polbot