Chestnut-eared araçari
The chestnut-eared aracari, or chestnut-eared araçari (Pteroglossus castanotis ), is a bird native to central and south-eastern South America. It belongs to the toucan and aracari family (Ramphastidae). The chestnut-eared aracari is a larger, more colorful bird than the black-necked aracari, which it otherwise resembles.
The range of the chestnut-eared aracari is the southern Amazon Basin, especially the southwestern of this region. It is also found in the eastern Andean foothills; a narrowing range extension enters central-southern Colombia by 900 kilometres (560 mi).
The southern Amazon Basin range narrows in the southeast to only the upstream half-headwaters of the north-flowing Amazon River tributaries. This range continues southeastwards into the central and southern cerrado and ends in the Paraná River region in eastern Paraguay, Bolivia, southeastern Brazil and the extreme northeast of Argentina.
It is very present in Bolivia, notably in the Aquicuana Reserve, located in the Beni Department, near the city of Riberalta, the Capital of the Bolivian Amazon.
Like others in the genus Pteroglossus, its diet mainly consists of fruit taken from trees in the area, sometimes retrieved by hanging upside-down. The chestnut-eared aracari also may include flower nectar, insects, and nuts in its diet as well. Engaging in behavior similar to the saffron toucanet, they also appear to prey on the nests of other bird species, eating the eggs and baby birds.
Ischnoceran lice found on the chestnut-eared aracari were first described as Austrophilopterus cancellosus castanotus, but these parasites are actually indistinguishable from those on most other Pteroglossus, and today are united with them in Austrophilopterus flavirostris.
