The Story
This Lettered Aracari (Pteroglossus inscriptus) perched on a branch in Restrepo, Meta, Colombia, its yellow underparts and the fine dark markings on its bill both visible. A small toucan of Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru, it eats mostly fruit but also takes small arthropods, and it raids other birds’ nests for eggs and young. Like other toucans it is assumed to nest in tree cavities, and it usually lives below about 500 meters, locally up to 900.
I photographed it with a Canon R5 and the RF 800mm f/11 plus the RF 1.4x extender, at 1/60 sec, f/16, ISO 1600. IUCN lists the Lettered Aracari as Least Concern, and seeing toucans in a town’s trees is a good reason to keep the big fruiting trees standing.
©2025 Adam Rainoff Photographer
The bird
The Lettered Aracari (Pteroglossus inscriptus) belongs to the family Ramphastidae (Toucans) in the eBird/Clements taxonomy.
Source: eBird.org (opens in a new tab)
Conservation
Least Concern on the IUCN Red List (assessment published 2024), with the population trend listed as decreasing. Source: IUCN Red List