Description
Like other toucans, the Fiery-billed Aracari is brightly marked and has a large bill. The adult is typically 43 cm long and weighs 250 g.
The sexes are alike in appearance, with a black head and chest and dark olive green upperparts, apart from a red rump and upper tail. There is reddish collar on the rear neck. The underparts are bright yellow, with a round black spot in the centre of the breast and a red band across the belly. The thighs are chestnut.
The bare facial skin is black, becoming ruddy behind the yellow eye. The upper mandible of the bill is bright orange, the lower mandible is black, and the legs are green.
Juvenile Fiery-billed Aracaris are much duller, with sooty-black head and brownish green upperparts. The red rump and yellow underparts are paler, and the breast spot, belly band and bill pattern are indistinct.
This species is similar to the closely related Collared Aracari, Pteroglossus torquatus, with which it is sometimes considered conspecific. It differs from Collared in the orange upper mandible, red belly band, and larger dark breast spot.
The call of the Fiery-billed Aracari is a loud, sharp pseek, or keeseek, similar to that of Collared, but more often two-noted.
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