A new pair of Toco Toucans has been introduced to visitors to the National Aviary in Pittsburgh’s North Side.
The male and female, a new breeding pair for the aviary, are at home in the redesigned TreeTops habitat, presented by Peoples.
Currently 1 and 2 years of age, respectively, the birds can begin breeding at ages 3 to 4.
“Toco Toucans are the largest of the 40 or so species of toucans that inhabit parts of Central and South America. Tocos inhabit South America,” the aviary says. “Males are larger than the females and have a longer bill.
“Toco Toucans are also thought to be the most widely recognized of the toucan species with their distinctive coloration and large beaks. Visitors will enjoy seeing these birds up close and watching their natural behaviors,” the aviary says.
The toucans already are exhibiting bonding behaviors. The male may be seen bringing food to the female, or the two may be seen bill tapping, in which they repeatedly tap their beaks together or briefly interlock them.
Also found at home in the TreeTops is a pair of Edwards’s Pheasants, a species new to the aviary and believed to be extinct in the wild. The pair hatched a chick on April 25, and the chick can currently be seen daily in the facility’s Avian Care Center window.
Native to Vietnam, this species was last observed in the wild in 2000, the aviary says.
