The chestnut-eared aracari or chestnut-eared araçari is a near-passerine bird in the toucan family Ramphastidae. It is found in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, and Peru.
Region
Amazon Basin and Pantanal–Chaco lowlands
Typical Environment
Occurs widely in lowland tropical forests, riverine and gallery forests, forest edges, and second-growth woodlands. It is also frequent in seasonally flooded várzea, semi-open palm groves, and wooded savannas such as the Pantanal. The species adapts well to fragmented habitats with fruiting trees, including plantations and rural mosaics. It ranges from Colombia and Ecuador east through Amazonia to Brazil and south into Bolivia, Paraguay, and northern Argentina.
Altitude Range
0–1200 m
Climate Zone
Tropical
Ease of Keeping
Beginner friendly: 2/5
This colorful toucan relative is a key seed disperser, swallowing fruits whole and later regurgitating the seeds far from the parent tree. It typically travels in small, noisy parties and roosts communally in tree cavities. Two main subspecies vary subtly in size and coloration across their broad range, including the Pantanal and southern Amazonia.
castanotis subspecies in eastern Ecuador
Temperament
social and active
Flight Pattern
short rapid wingbeats between perches
Social Behavior
Usually found in small groups of 3–10 birds that move together through the canopy. Pairs nest in tree cavities, often those excavated by woodpeckers, and both sexes share incubation and chick-rearing. They may roost communally in cavities outside the breeding season.
Migratory Pattern
Resident
Song Description
Vocalizations are loud, croaking and yelping series that carry through the forest canopy. Calls often include rattling or grating notes delivered in rapid sequences during group movement and at dawn.
Plumage
Glossy dark upperparts with chestnut ear-coverts and a broad chestnut and black breast band on a yellow underbody; red rump and vent. The bill is long and patterned, typically pale with a darker culmen and dark vertical markings. Feathers appear sleek with a slight iridescent sheen on the upperparts.
Diet
Primarily eats a wide variety of fruits, including figs and palm drupes, gulping them whole and later regurgitating seeds. It supplements the diet with insects, small vertebrates, and occasionally eggs or nestlings. Its feeding makes it an important disperser for many forest plants.
Preferred Environment
Feeds mostly in the mid- to upper canopy at fruiting trees along forest edges, river corridors, and in second growth. It readily visits scattered trees in open country and agroforestry plots when fruit is abundant.
