Tropical rainforests are home to a many unique animals ranging from sloths to jaguars and  even capybara’s. Tropical forests are among the best habitats for birds to breed too as it allows them to remain hidden as well as gain access to a boat load of food to consume.

Here we’ll be going over some of the cooler, wackier avians that call these tropical rainforests home.

• Channel Billed Toucan
• Green Billed Toucan
• Toco Toucan
• Scarlet Macaw
• Blue and Yellow Macaw
• Southern Mealy Amazon
• Green Honeycreeper
• Hoatzin
• Harpy Eagle
• Jabiru Stork
• Rhinoceros Hornbill

1. Channel Billed Toucan (Ramphastos Vitellinus)

 

These black billed toucans spend their days chilling at the lowlands of woodlands and forests, generally staying within the cavities of high trees. The countries within which they are most common include South America and Trinidad to southern Brazil and central Bolivia.

Their large beaks, although comical in size are very useful and lightweight considering they can be between 5.5 – 6 inch (14 – 15cm) in length. These beaks help to regulate their temperature, reaching for nests and for help in digging into tree cavities for food.

Channel billed toucans can reach a length of 19 – 20 inches (47.5cm – 50cm), have a wingspan of 43 – 60 inches (1.1m – 1.5m), and tend to have a lifespan of 20 years. Channel bills weigh around 0.9 lbs (400 grams) so they’re far from heaviest toucan in the world.

Another fun little fact is that they only fly at 100m increments whilst throughout the rest of the time they’re hopping from one branch to the next.

2. Green Billed Toucan (Ramphastos Dicolorus)

As their namesake would suggest, these guys have beaks that are green (pale green to be more specific) in color whilst their other name i.e red-breasted toucan describes the red feathers around this toucan’s chest area. Green billed toucans are situated in southern and eastern Brazil, Pantanal of Bolivia, eastern Paraguay and far north-eastern Argentina.

Green billed toucans tend to weigh 0.5 – 0.9 lbs (265 – 400 grams), are between 15.5 – 18 inches (40 – 46cm) whilst their beaks are amongst the shortest within this species with a length of 3.9 inches (10cm).

if you were planning to get one as a pet, they’re not the easiest to upkeep too considering their requirements for a spacioous cage, a high fruit diet won’t be easy to deal whilst Green bill’s having iron storage disease would mean you’d need the funds for a vet just incase.

3. Toco Toucan (Ramphastos Toco)

This toucan is what we’ve come to observe the most within mainstream media. They are also the largest toucan we know of weighing upto 2 lbs (900 grams), growing to a max length of 25 inches (63.5cm) with a wingspan reaching upwards of 60 inches (1.5m).

Their place of habitat is South America where they inhabit a variety of unique environments including tropical forests, savannas, and shrubland.

Toco’s are by far the largest toucans and have equally as large beaks measuring between 7 – 7.5 inches (18 – 19cm). 

These beaks come in handy for variety of things, whether it be digging for food in hard to reach places on tress or into cavities that are just too long for your average bird to squeeze into.

4. Scarlet Macaw (Ara Macao)

Scarlet macaw’s are large red, yellow, and blue parrots often found in Southern Mexico, Peru, Bolivia, eastern Brazil and within Trinidad and Tobago. 

Scarlet’s tend to spend their times near rivers, forests and trees generally in large noisy groups. Their beaks are far smaller than toucans but these relatively small, rounded beaks are very versatile and can crack hard nuts as well as normal seeds altogether.

These birds are also amongst the most intelligent out there as they’re able to mimic words, sounds and are very trainable if you ever decide to purchase one.

These parrots have extremely long lifespan living anywhere from 50 – 100 years in age based on if they live in the wild or in captivity.

In terms of flight speed these scarlet coloured parrots can reach speeds of 35 mph when using their 34 – 36 inches (1 – 1.2m)  long wingspan to glide through the air. In terms of just their size, these macaws can be anywhere from 32 – 39 inches in length whilst weighing in at a very hefty 2lbs (1kg). 

5. Blue and Yellow Macaw (Ara Ararauna)

These are among the most recognisable color palate on any parrot with the iconic blue, green and yellow feathers. They weigh in at around 2lbs (1kg) and can be 32 – 39 inches in size much like its scarlet sibling.

These blue and yellow macaws are usually found in South America, from Venezuela to Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia and Paraguay. They’re also found in Central America however, they happen to only be restricted to Panama. 

In almost all metrics whether it be their lifespan extending upto 70 years (in captivity), their wingspan being 34 – 36 inches (1m+) in length, being able to fly at 35 mph or the hooked and versatile beak.

Other than the change in color palate these macaws are very similar to the scarlet.

Even in terms of pure intelligence these 2 aren’t too far off, the scarlet may have a slight edge but, the Blue and Yellow macaws are still very intelligent and more than capable of mimicking words, songs, sound effects and more.

6. Southern Mealy Amazon (Amazona Farinosa)

These medium sized green parrots are native to Central America where they stay within Caribbean coast, Costa Rica, Panama as well as South American countries like Mexico and Brazil 

These birds tend to be 15 – 16 inches in length (38cm – 41 cm) with a wingspan around 22 inches long making them middle of the pack in terms of size for a Amazonian birds but, still amongst the largest parrots around.

They’re far from the heaviest being only 1.2 lb – 1.6lb (540 – 700 grams). Southern mealy’s are regarded as the gentle giant within Amazonian environments as they’re known to be very caring, intelligent and easily trainable.

Mealy’s like other larger parrots can love for  long time, in the region of 60 – 80 years. This is obviously very similar to how long we live on average.

If the Southern Mealy’s simple, green look appeals to you or if a caring and intelligent parrot to share an awesome bond is what you seek, this gentle and giant avian is well worth considering.

7. Green Honeycreeper (Chlorophanes spiza)

Green Honeycreeper’s live within the edges of tropical rainforests in Brazil, Mexico, and Trinidad. These green feathered tropical birds are on the smaller side coming in at a length between the 5.1 – 5.5 inches (14 – 15cm). 

They’re also extremely lightweight too weighing in between 0.5 – 0.8 ounces (14 – 23 grams) which allows them to easily bounce and fly around consuming nectar, insects among other food sources with ease.

Green honeycreepers are actually known for displaying sexual dimorphism as the males look completely different based on their color palate with the females.

The females are more green in color whilst the males have a black face with blue feathers so, not quite living up to its namesake.

8. Hoatzin (Opisthocomus Hoatzin)

Hoatzin’s are located within swamps, riparian forests, and mangroves of the Amazon and the Orinoco basins in South America. They have a variety of unique names whether it be the reptile bird to the Canje pheasant and among the bigger birds we know.

These unique reptile like birds tend be around 26 inches (65cm) in length whilst it’s wingspan can be around 67 inches (70 cm). Despite their size hoatzin’s are actually very lightweight weighing between 1.6 – 2.2lbs (0.7 – 1kg).

One of their more unique characteristics of these birds happen to do with their newborns having claws on their thumb and first finger. This is very useful for newly hatched hoatzin’s as it allows for better control when climbing trees however, this feature does disappear once they become adults.

This claw feature kind of shows how dinosaur-esqe birds can be and infant hoatzins most certainly are.

Although hoatzin have large wings, they’re barely able to fly. To some degree you could classify them as an almost flightless bird but, technically flight is still possible for them.

On average these reptile birds can live between 14 – 15 years, in captivity they can live upto 30 years, which isn’t anything impressive compared to some parrots but, it’s still a long lifespan amongst the average tropical bird.

9. Harpy Eagle (Harpia Harpyja)

Harpy eagle’s live in Central and South America. This includes Mexico, Brazil, Ecuador, Guyana, Suriname, French Guiana, Colombia, Venezuela, Bolivia, Paraguay, Peru, and northeast Argentina. 

They spend a majority of their time within the forests canopy and rarely fly in open spaces. Harpy eagle’s are between 36-40 inches (0.9 – 1m) with the females on the heavier side being 13 to 20 lbs (6 to 9 kg) and male harpy’s ranging between 9 and 11 lbs (4 to 5 kg).

Their wingspan is around 78 inches (around 2m) which is extremely wide and allows the harpy to fly at speeds upwards of 50mph.

These eagles are at the top of the food chain in any rainforest they live in so nothing, whether larger mammals, birds or otherwise can prey on these beautiful harpy eagles.

10. Jabiru Stork (Jabiru Mycteria)

Jabiru Storks are some of the most unique birds around with its long, thin black beak and a white feathered body. These massive birds are most often found in South America, from Mexico down to Argentina. The countries Jabiru’s inhabit the most include the Pantanal region and Paraguay. 

In regards to size Jabiru Storks can grow to heights between 51 – 59 inches (1.3 – 1.5m) and wingspans eclipsing 8.5 ft (2.6m). Therefore, it goes without saying Jabiru’s are firmly amongst the largest birds in the world.

In fact Jabiru’s are the tallest birds in the world that can fly, even it it’s only briefly.

Considering their large beaks that get as long as 12 inches (30cm), it’s very useful when it comes to feeding on the larger creatures they such as snakes, reptiles, fish, mollusks, and amphibians. 

Male Jabiru storks are roughly 25% larger than females whilst their average lifespan is around 30 years in the wild and upwards of 36 years in captivity. Their lifespan is up there when compared to most other larger birds although ostriches (the largest birds in the world) do love much longer that Jabiru’s as do the macaw’s discussed above.

11. Rhinoceros Hornbill (Buceros Rhinoceros)

Source

Rhinoceros hornbill’s are amongst the sauvest looking larger birds within tropical environments. Their trademark head horn gives of this old-school greaser with it potentially being the reason why Malaysia have claimed it as their national bird . These birds generally habituate the rainforests of South East Asia and are even regarded as the largest birds there.

These hornbill’s can be almost 50 inches (1.2m) long in length with a wingspan extending upwards of 5ft (1.5m). As for the hornbills weight, it can fluctuate anywhere from 4.5 – 6.5lbs (2 – 3kg) easily ranking them amongst the largest birds in tropical environments as a whole and easily in the pack of the largest birds in South East Asia.

Rhinoceros hornbill’s, as distinguished by their name, have a combination of really long bill and horn on which are roughly between 8 – 10 inches (20 – 25cm) long.

It allows them to reach harder to grab fruits, gulp down on insects and smaller mammals if they capture one along with allowing access to other environments harder to reach for most other birds.

They also tend to live a decently long life ranging from 30 – 35 years on average.