Today during our morning coffee, we were visited by
two toucans, which is how you normally see them. Toucans travel in pairs so
when you see one you know that you will soon see another not far behind. They
spent several minutes sitting in the tree in front of our terrace chatting and
playing before moving on.
Trying to identify the birds is difficult for the amateur birder.
The ones we saw seemed to have a smaller build than the typical toucan with
orange and black (or dark) coloring on the bill and a dark body with red
markings on its back and belly. They were about 12-14 inches long of which half
was body and half were tail feathers and bill.
We’re guessing they were Fiery-billed Aracari toucans. Latter we saw the
Keel-billed toucan which is the typical Toucan Sam everyone hopes to
see.
The toucans brought into sharp focus the fact that we
weren’t on a holiday in the States but were in an exotic and faraway place
where animals and birds are not what you see at home—where sounds, weather, and
smells are new and different and language is a new code you better try to
understand.
It is a beautiful land with beautiful people—even magical.
