Unlimited edition. 18 x 24 inch, museum-quality poster on matte paper.

No matter what Froot Loops cereal commercials force fed us, the cartoonishly impressive bilI of the keel-billed toucan is not banded with bold colors. In fact, the colors of the real bird’s mighty mandibles are more like a wet-on-wet watercolor application of tangerine, chartreuse, cerulean, crimson, madder, and lavender, far more astonishing than Toucan Sam’s simple stripes. I find it as frustrating as I do amusing, then, that the “Field Guide” approach means we end up with a color column that actually calls Toucan Sam to mind. Still, to be fair to the artists hired by WK Kellogg Co in the 1960s, one of the common names of this charismatic bird is the rainbow-billed toucan.

The keel-billed toucan is native to Central and northern South America, where it can be found in the canopy of lowland forests. Fruits and seeds make up the bulk of its diet, but toucans will grab snakes, small lizards, and insects when they can; if the opportunity presents itself, they’ll target the nests of other species and eat the eggs and/or nestlings. Toucans are quite social and often gather in groups of up 20-something birds to playfully chase one another, “fence” with their bills, or have a game of catch with fruit. Learning about this play, I recalled their varied diet and predatory opportunism – these are smart birds, I thought, and their behavior reminds me of corvids. Turns out, that wasn’t an original thought. I found plenty of bird nerds online highlighting this kinship. One ornithologist writes “toucans are a bit like neotropical corvids with massive bills.”

Alas, this “colorful crow” is now classified as “Near Threatened,” and its population is declining due to habitat loss, poaching for meat and trophies, and illegal collection for the pet trade.

Note: These archival poster prints feature rich, appealing colors. I encourage customers to take care in handling them until they are framed/protected for display; the darker colors on the matte paper can be scratched. They ship rolled, so customers need to flatten them before framing (or have their framer do so).

Charitable Sales Model: Whenever one of these poster prints is purchased, a charitable contribution equal to 10% of the print’s cost (or $3.60) is made to a nonprofit working to tackle environmental or social challenges. Read more about my charitable sales model here.