English             -               Chestnut-eared Aracari

Portuguese     -                Araçari-castanho

Latin                -                 Pteroglossus castanotis

Is this a cool looking bird or what?? The first Chestnut-eared Aracari I photographed was at Parque das Aves, near Foz do Iguacu in the state of Parana. I know………..Parque das Aves is a bird park and some people may think it’s a bit cheeky to blog about wildlife that is in a bird park because it’s a controlled environment blah blah blah, but the thing I love about Parque das Aves is that it gives you an opportunity to get up close and personal with birds that you may never see in the wild. They have 2 giant aviaries in which you are able to walk around while Macaws and Toucans are flying around you and at times land beside you. A lot of the birds that I photographed at Parque das Aves I thought I would never see in the wild so that’s why I thought it was important for me to photograph. As it happened, I was lucky enough to photograph the Chestnut-eared Aracari in the Panatanal (photos 2,3,4) in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul. We were driving along the state road, MS 184 which is a dirt road of 117 km on a hot but overcast day. We had stopped at one of the 74 wooden bridges along this road to see if there was anything interesting to photograph and in a tree beside a pond I heard some rustling. I couldn’t quite make out what is was at first as it was hiding behind branches, then it popped out and sat on a branch in the open. Managed to get quite a few shots of it before it got sick of being photographed and it flew away. I was happy to have photographed it at Parque das Aves but it’s always extra special seeing it in the wild.

* The Chestnut-eared Aracari is a medium size bird of around 47 cm in length and weighs around 310 gr.

* It is found in the SW of the Amazon Basin, Eastern Andean foothills, and South and East Colombia.

* It inhabits lakes and rivers, wet or flooded forests, wooded islands in rivers, swampy forest, etc.

* The Chestnut-eared Aracari is mainly a frugivore. However, it may also feed on flowers, nectar, insects, and is known to hunt nestling birds and eggs as well.

* The Chestnut-eared Aracari main call is a piercing and high-pitched “sneeep” or a longer “psheee-eep”. 

* The female lays 2-4 white eggs which are incubated for two weeks. The young fledge one month after hatching. 

* The Chestnut-eared Araçari is fairly common throughout its range, and can be found in several protected areas. However, numbers of the Chestnut-eared Aracari are thought to be declining. One major threat to them is that it is still being hunted by humans in part of its range. At this stage it is classified as a species “of least concern”.