Yellow-throated toucan

The yellow-throated toucan (Ramphastos ambiguus) is a Near Threatened species of bird in the family Ramphastidae, the toucans, toucanets, and aracaris. It is found from Honduras south into northern South America and beyond to Peru.

The yellow-throated toucan is 47 to 61 cm (19 to 24 in) long and weighs 584 to 746 g (1.3 to 1.6 lb). The three subspecies differ little in their dimensions, though females' bills are shorter than males' in all three. Bill lengths vary between 15.1 and 19.8 cm (5.9 and 7.8 in) in males and 12.9 and 16.0 cm (5.1 and 6.3 in) in females. Other measurements differ little by sex. Their wing chord is 20.4 to 24.8 cm (8.0 to 9.8 in), their tail length is 14.0 to 16.2 cm (5.5 to 6.4 in), and their tarsus is 4.7 to 5.5 cm (1.9 to 2.2 in) long.

The yellow-throated toucan's subspecies have essentially the same plumage. They are mostly black, with a maroon tint to the hindneck and upper back and white uppertail coverts. Their face, throat, and upper breast are bright yellow with white and crimson bands below the breast. Their vent and undertail coverts are bright red. The bare skin around their eye does differ: sky blue in the nominate R. a. ambiguus, yellow green in R. a. abbreviatus, and varying between yellow and bright green in R. a. swainsonii. The three subspecies' bills differ as well. All have a mostly yellow maxilla with a greenish yellow stripe on the culmen and a thin black line at the base. The nominate and R. a. abbreviatus have black mandibles; R. a. swainsonii' is maroon to reddish chestnut brown.