Ramphastos vitellinus
Silhouette: Edwin Price · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~60% in a week ~90%
The channel-billed toucan (Ramphastos vitellinus) is a species of bird in the family Ramphastidae found on the Caribbean island of Trinidad and in tropical South America as far south as southern Brazil and central Bolivia.
The channel-billed toucan was formally described in 1823 as Ramphastos vitellinus by the German naturalist Hinrich Lichtenstein. The specific epithet is Medieval Latin meaning "deep yellow colour tinged red", from Latin vitellus meaning "yolk of an egg". The type location is Cayenne in French Guiana.
Four subspecies are recognized: These subspecies were previously considered separate species, but all four will interbreed freely wherever they meet. There also exists an isolated population in eastern Brazil. It looks very similar to, and has traditionally been considered part of, R. v. ariel, but molecular analysis suggests that it has been isolated for... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Serra dos Órgãos National Park | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 2 | Tijuca National Park | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 3 | Cuyabeno Wildlife Reserve | 🇪🇨 Ecuador | |
| 4 | Chapada dos Guimarães National Park | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 5 | Yasuní National Park | 🇪🇨 Ecuador | |
| 6 | Amboró National Park | 🇧🇴 Bolivia | |
| 7 | Brownsberg Nature Park | 🇸🇷 Suriname | |
| 8 | Sierra de la Macarena National Park | 🇨🇴 Colombia | |
| 9 | Amacayacu National Natural Park | 🇨🇴 Colombia | |
| 10 | Tambopata National Reserve | 🇵🇪 Peru | |
| 11 | Anavilhanas National Park | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 12 | Manu National Park | 🇵🇪 Peru | |
| 13 | Emas National Park | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 14 | Chapada Diamantina National Park | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 15 | Chingaza National Natural Park | 🇨🇴 Colombia | |
| 16 | Itatiaia National Park | 🇧🇷 Brazil |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rio de Janeiro | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 2 | Santos | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 3 | Belém | 🇧🇷 Brazil |
Possible
About 30% of wildlife watchers report a Channel-billed Toucan sighting in Yasuní National Park on a given day, based on 927 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 42nd most-seen of the 533 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 60%, and over a week to about 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
March, May and October
In those months about 40% of wildlife watchers report a Channel-billed Toucan in Yasuní National Park on a given day, against about 10% in January, the lowest month.
Between 8 and 11 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Channel-billed Toucan sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
5th of 16
Of the 16 parks where we can rate Channel-billed Toucan sightings, Yasuní National Park ranks 5th at about 30%. The best odds are in Serra dos Órgãos National Park (Brazil, about 50%), Tijuca National Park (Brazil, about 40%) and Cuyabeno Wildlife Reserve (Ecuador, about 30%). All parks ranked.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Channel-billed Toucan is recorded against all the birds logged in Yasuní National Park (927 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
