• Summary
• Text account
• Data table and detailed info
• Distribution map
• Reference and further resources

Taxonomic note

Ramphastos ambiguus (del Hoyo and Collar 2014) was previously split into R. ambiguus and R. swainsonii following Sibley and Monroe (1990, 1993).
Fairly close relative of R. tucanus and R. cuvieri, these three constituting the so-called “yelping group” of toucans. Long considered to include R. brevis as subspecies, but they are now generally accepted as distinct species, with different vocalizations. Subspecies swainsonii often treated as a distinct species, but resembles nominate in behaviour, voice and morphology (they apparently interbred in former contact zone in lower Cauca Valley, in Colombia); moreover, smaller subspecies abbreviatus seems to represent an intermediate form, having bill like that of nominate but facial skin like that of swainsonii; species treatment of swainsonii presumably based largely on its sympatry with R. brevis when latter thought to belong within present species. Other described forms include innominatus from Colombia, a synonym of nominate ambiguus, and tocard and tocardus, which are synonyms of swainsonii. Three subspecies recognized.

Taxonomic source(s)
del Hoyo, J., Collar, N.J., Christie, D.A., Elliott, A. and Fishpool, L.D.C. 2014. HBW and BirdLife International Illustrated Checklist of the Birds of the World. Volume 1: Non-passerines. Lynx Edicions BirdLife International, Barcelona, Spain and Cambridge, UK.

Red List criteria met

Critically Endangered	Endangered	Vulnerable
-	-	-

Red List history

Year	Category	Criteria
2023	Least Concern
2016	Near Threatened	A2cd+3cd+4cd
2014	Near Threatened	A2cd+3cd+4cd
2012	Not Recognised
2008	Not Recognised
2004	Not Recognised
2000	Not Recognised
1994	Not Recognised
1988	Not Recognised

Migratory status	not a migrant	Forest dependency	high
Land-mass type		Average mass	-

	Estimate	Data quality
Extent of Occurrence (breeding/resident)	3,560,000 km2	medium
Severely fragmented?	no	-

	Estimate	Data quality	Derivation	Year of estimate
Population size	500000-4999999 mature individuals	poor	suspected	2022
Population trend	decreasing	-	inferred	2010-2029
Rate of change over the past 10 years/3 generations (longer of the two periods)	1-19%	-	-	-
Rate of change over the future 10 years/3 generations (longer of the two periods)	1-19%	-	-	-
Rate of change over the past & future 10 years/3 generations (longer of the two periods)	1-19%	-	-	-
Generation length	6.19 years	-	-	-
Number of subpopulations	3-100	-	-	-
Percentage of mature individuals in largest subpopulation	1-89%	-	-	-

Population justification: The global population is suspected to number 500,000-4,999,999 mature individuals (Partners in Flight 2022). The species is described as 'fairly common' (Stotz et al. 1996).

Trend justification: The species is described as becoming locally rarer or even extinct in parts of the range, mainly as a consequence of widespread deforestation (Rice et al. 2020). Tree cover within the range is lost at a rate of 8% over three generations (18.6 years; Global Forest Watch 2021, using Hansen et al. [2013] data and methods disclosed therein). Despite being sensitive to large-scale forest clearance the species shows some tolerance of open habitats and is commonly observed in gardens, clearings and pastureland, as long as trees are present nearby (Rice et al. 2020). Therefore, tree cover loss may be driving only slow population declines overall. The species is however hunted for food, the impact of which has not been quantified. Tentatively, population declines are therefore here placed in the band 1-19% over three generations, though an accurate quantification of the trend is urgently required.

Country/Territory	Presence	Origin	Resident	Breeding visitor	Non-breeding visitor	Passage migrant
Colombia	extant	native	yes
Costa Rica	extant	native	yes
Ecuador	extant	native	yes
Honduras	extant	native	yes
Nicaragua	extant	native	yes
Panama	extant	native	yes
Peru	extant	native	yes
Venezuela	extant	native	yes

Country/Territory	IBA Name
Honduras	Mocorón

Habitat (level 1)	Habitat (level 2)	Importance	Occurrence
Artificial/Terrestrial	Plantations	suitable	resident
Artificial/Terrestrial	Rural Gardens	suitable	resident
Forest	Subtropical/Tropical Moist Lowland	major	resident
Forest	Subtropical/Tropical Moist Montane	major	resident
Forest	Subtropical/Tropical Swamp	suitable	resident
Altitude	100 - 2670 m	Occasional altitudinal limits

Threat (level 1)	Threat (level 2)	Impact and Stresses
Agriculture & aquaculture	Annual & perennial non-timber crops - Agro-industry farming	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Low Impact: 5
		Stresses Ecosystem degradation, Ecosystem conversion
Agriculture & aquaculture	Annual & perennial non-timber crops - Small-holder farming	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Low Impact: 5
		Stresses Ecosystem degradation, Ecosystem conversion
Agriculture & aquaculture	Livestock farming & ranching - Agro-industry grazing, ranching or farming	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Low Impact: 5
		Stresses Ecosystem degradation, Ecosystem conversion
Agriculture & aquaculture	Livestock farming & ranching - Small-holder grazing, ranching or farming	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Low Impact: 5
		Stresses Ecosystem degradation, Ecosystem conversion
Biological resource use	Hunting & trapping terrestrial animals - Intentional use (species is the target)	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Causing/Could cause fluctuations		Low Impact: 5
		Stresses Species mortality
Biological resource use	Logging & wood harvesting - Unintentional effects: (large scale) [harvest]	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Low Impact: 5
		Stresses Ecosystem degradation, Ecosystem conversion
Biological resource use	Logging & wood harvesting - Unintentional effects: (subsistence/small scale) [harvest]	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Low Impact: 5
		Stresses Ecosystem degradation, Ecosystem conversion

Purpose	Scale
Food - human	subsistence, national
Pets/display animals, horticulture	national

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Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Species factsheet: Yellow-throated Toucan Ramphastos ambiguus. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/yellow-throated-toucan-ramphastos-ambiguus on 23/11/2024.
Recommended citation for factsheets for more than one species: BirdLife International (2024) IUCN Red List for birds. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/search on 23/11/2024.