Black-billed mountain toucan

The black-billed mountain toucan was originally described in genus Pteroglossus.[3] Three subspecies are recognized, the nominate A. n. nigrirostris (Waterhouse, 1839), A. n. occidentalis (Chapman, 1915), and A. n. spilorhynchus (Gould, 1858).[2]

A. n. spilorhynchus was originally described as the species Andigena spilorhynchus.[4]

Feeding on fruits in Colombia

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 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.[5]

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. A. n. occidentalis has a bill like that of spilorhynchus but the red of the maxilla extends more than half way along the culmen.[5]

The subspecies of black-billed mountain toucan are found thus:[2][5]

• 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, subtropical to temperate montane forest, and more open areas such as croplands near forest and open sites with scattered trees. In elevation it mostly ranges between 1,700 and 2,700 m (5,600 and 8,900 ft) but occurs rarely down to 1,200 m (3,900 ft) and has been found as high as 3,245 m (10,600 ft).[5]

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.[1]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Andigena nigrirostris.

• John Gould and Henry Constantine Richter: A Monograph of the Ramphastidae, or Family of Toucans, London 1854
  • Newly printed with an Introduction by Jonathan Elphick, Taschen, Köln, Germany 2011 ISBN 978-3-8365-0524-6