Voices of the Toucans. Order Piciformes, Family Ramphastidae

Voices of the Toucans. Order Piciformes, Family Ramphastidae.-John W. Hardy, Theodore A. Parker III, and Terry Taylor. 1996. ARA Records, P.O. Box 12347, Gainesville, Florida. Audio cassette, $12.50.This is one of the most recent productions in the series featuring Neotropical avian vocalizations arranged by family. This compilation does not include the New World barbets, now considered a subfamily of the Ramphastidae. However, most of the taxa involved in the controversial species-level taxonomy of the spectacular toucans (sensu stricto) are represented. The absence of a few forms, such as those of the Emerald Toucanet (Aulacorhynchus prasinus) complex, will not obfuscate taxonomic interpretations, because toucan vocalizations typically vary little among members of the same superspecies groups. As this tape illustrates, in contrast to their plumage and behavior, toucan vocalizations are rather simple and monotonous, ranging from frog-like croaks of the toucanets to the far-carrying "yelps" of the smooth-billed group of Ramphastos toucans. Nevertheless, toucan vocalizations are one of the most characteristic sounds of the Neotropical forests, and the absence of the prominent Ramphastos vocalizations from lowland rain forest often indicates overhunting by humans or poor productivity of fruits.

As anticipated given the difficulty in recording some of the species, the quality of the recordings varies considerably from a few species that are represented by only a snippet of calls to a couple of species where the recordings are several minutes in length and clean of background noise. The information-rich liner notes begin by giving a half-page overview of toucan characteristics and taxonomy.

This is followed by species accounts that give both English and scientific names, habitat, elevational range, distribution, locality for each cut, date, recordist, and where appropriate, notes on species status and superspecies affinities. This is one of the most typo-free liner notes of the ARA series. The distributional information is generally accurate, but the Black-mandibled Toucan (Ramphastos ambiguus) is not found in the Guianas and Amazonian Brazil; rather, it occurs in the eastern foothills of Ecuador and Peru and west of the Andes in southwestern Colombia. Identification of other avian species in the background is inconsistent, and very few of the cuts have data on whether the recordings were made under natural conditions or after playback.

This cassette will be valuable for first-time visitor to the Neotropics, especially in western Amazonia where up to seven toucans are sympatric. Individuals and institutions that have other cassettes in this series also will want to add this one to their libraries. Hardy et al. continue to make an invaluable contribution to the Neotropical community through the production of this series.-MARK B. ROBBINS, Division of Ornithology, Museum of Natural History, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas 66045, USA.

Copyright American Ornithologists' Union Jan 1999
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