Managing Mating Season Behaviors

Posted on May 7, 2013 by Toucan Lady

It’s that time of the year again in Toucanland – the hormones are back and the Three-Cans have mating on their minds. I’ve been reading a lot lately from other bird owners about what a bad mating season it’s been for people: lots of stories of aggression and other hormonal behavioral issues that have bird owners pulling their own feathers (ok – hair) out. While not without its added annoyances, I feel grateful that we are not just surviving, but thriving, throughout this mating season.

In the spirit of collaboration, I’d thought I’d share some of my techniques in managing hormonal behaviors with our three Toco toucans that has led to less drama and more peaceful interactions in our lives. While there are some basic similarities, each of the Three-Cans has their own unique quirks that require training focus on my end to maintain a positive relationship with them.

First and foremost, we ensure we are setting our environment up for success by removing anything that will encourage or inspire mating behaviors – this includes reassessing the games we play with the Cans this time of year. Toys and games that are typically not a problem for us can increase aggression if we’re not careful.

big boxes are a “no-no” during mating season

In training, my favored approach in managing mating season behaviors is redirection. Rather than creating a negative experience for the bird by punishing its behavior (whether it be by yelling “no!”/”bad”, forcibly taking things away, etc.), I instead redirect the bird’s focus onto more positive pursuits. This often feels like you’re breaking a spell by snapping the bird out of its hormone-induced fog and back into normalcy. It truly feels like magic sometimes!

Here are some examples:

Paz, our female, becomes very pre-occupied with her desire to mate this time of the year and shows little interest in much else beyond trying to entice the boys with treats through her wall and emptying her toy containers in a nesting-like fashion. We are mindful to not provide her with toy containers (boxes, bags, baskets, etc.) that are too large or cavernous to further add to their nest potential in her eyes. Even still, she has a tendency to become very defensive over her toys, attempting to attack us at times when we need to move them or replace their contents.

Watch out for Ms. Paz

In these moments, we divert her aggression by simply asking her to move away from the situation that is triggering her. I have target trained each of the Three-Cans and phased out the target stick long ago; now they understand that if I point to a spot and say “perch”, that is where they need to move to. When Paz gets combative with us for touching her toys, we target her to another perch (reward her), cue another learned behavior such as “spin” (reward her), and she calms back down and allows us to handle her toys without intrusion.

Pepe can be very Dr. Jekyll / Mr. Hyde during mating season. One moment, he’s as sweet as can be, taking treats and allowing me to kiss his beak and the next minute, he turns into his hormone-pumped alter ego, Little Dragon. While Little Dragon is still just as hilariously adorable as The Pepster (perhaps even more so in his tiny fury), Little Dragon is angry and wants to bite me.

“catch” makes Little Dragon disappear

This mating season, Pepe tends to get very territorial and defensive of his food bowls with me. For reasons I have not been able to determine, Little Dragon always makes his appearance at the lunchtime feeding. In order for me to access Pepe’s food bowls, I must reach my arm into his enclosure and under the perch where he is typically always sitting when the door is open. Most of the time, this is a non-issue and I can reach around Pepe all I want without him making a fuss. But when Little Dragon is in full swing, he’s prepared to defend his bowls with a wild snapping beak. To avoid getting bitten and, more importantly, avoid reinforcing aggressive behavior, I redirect Little Dragon’s attention with a game of catch. By enticing him with his favorite activity, Pepe quickly snaps back to his old self, happily tossing his toys and allowing me to exchange his food bowls without incident.

Paco, while typically our quietest Can, is much more croak-y during mating season, frequently calling out to me, his chosen”mate”, throughout the day. And while his croaks aren’t super loud like a parrot’s piercing screams, the monotony of it can still get aggravating, particularly because I am always worried that something is actually wrong. Most of the rest of the year, if the Cans are croaking, it’s because something (or someone) is upsetting them and I always go to check. However, during mating season, it is imperative that Paco doesn’t see me answering his call with my presence (read: rewarding him), which can increase both the frequency and the insistence of his croaking.

minding the croakster

Beyond simply not rewarding it, the other way I minimize Paco’s increased croaking is by not encouraging any mating behaviors with me: I do not provide him with nest-like toys to “call” me to; I always redirect his advances and never allow him to hump me; I do not allow him to stick his head in my shirts (a nest-y behavior he tried to start this season); and I try not to encourage him feeding me.

A Toco toucan courtship behavior is passing food or other valued objects between their beaks. And while this is a toucan trait that I adore, it can get exhausting during mating season. This time of the year, Paco can get very insistent about wanting to give me things so I do my best to either ignore him (if I am outside of his aviary) or redirect his attention (if I am inside of his aviary).

offering me his blueberry

When Paco wants to give me something, he will hold it in the tip of his beak and purr constantly until I take it from him. He then expectantly waits for me to give it back to him, so we can continue the courtship passing game. He can literally continue this for 20+ passes if I let him so to redirect his attention, I cue behaviors in between the passes and conduct an impromptu training session. Not only does this lower the number of repetitions in passing, but it re-focuses his mind on training and he’s learning much more quickly than usual due to the higher number of training sessions I’m able to sneak in. Win win!

For me, I’ve found that the key to making it through mating season without damaging my relationship with my birds is to keep things focused on the positive and remain highly vigilant that I’m not reinforcing any negative behaviors that could potentially continue once mating season is over. While it’s not my favorite time of the year, mating season is made manageable with training and we all come out of it just as close, if not closer, than we were at the start of it.

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Focusing Paco’s Time Indoors on Positive Pursuits

Posted on March 12, 2013 by Toucan Lady

Well, it’s finally happened. I knew this day would come and have been dreading it with nervous anticipation for awhile now. Paco has officially started to lose interest in most of his favorite things about the indoors. Suddenly, flying back and forth between the tops of the windows and pillow wrestling are not enough to hold his attention. Just as some of his most obsessed-over toys have lost their entertainment value – the slinky, the sponge, the Tiger Balm cap, (I could go on and on) – so has the everyday sameness of the indoors.

While I fully expected this transition to arrive, I wasn’t sure how long it would take and was hoping I could ride the novelty factor for as long as possible; especially since he only comes inside for a few hours at a time, a few days per week. However, toucans are so incredibly intelligent and boundlessly energetic, they tend to get bored of pretty much everything much more rapidly than your average bear.

Paco’s ease with the indoors has been a gradual one. Those of you who have been following our adventures from the beginning will remember how he used to be incredibly fearful of coming inside the house, I suspect because he had probably never been inside before in his life. But with time and training, we were able to overcome his fear together and replace it with a sense of wonder. If I really think about it, we’ve had a good run just exploring every little household item and its new-to-him-ness over this past year or so. Now, the things in the house that were once so full of intrigue have become mundane: the mirrors are now just mirrors, not another invading toucan in our midst; the pillows are still sort of fun to wrestle with, but because we’ve now determined that they’re not monsters, they no longer need to be attacked with such vigor.

Our house is not very big. We live in a two-bedroom apartment whose best feature is the bright turquoise sea that surrounds us and shines its way through every window. I would never dream of housing a toucan inside with us completely not only due to the lack of space, but more because I am finding out just how high-maintenance having a toucan share your living space can be. Now that Paco’s interest in his original keep-myself-busy-in-a-safe-way activities has waned, he is looking for more and because “more” is not easily discovered, he’s starting to move on to a get-myself-into-trouble-in-places-I’m-not-supposed-to-be phase. There are not many more obvious things left for him to explore on his own. And until we move house altogether someday, that leaves me to get creative and MAKE something else to explore.

It is very important to me that the time Paco spends in the house is always associated positively in his mind. I want him to think of it as a fun, non-scary space that he looks forward to coming to. A big part of that is avoiding any punishers during his time inside, while still maintaining dependable obedience in the times it’s required to keep him safe. I strive to maintain a consistently positive reinforcement style of training, which means I don’t want to constantly be telling him “no!” or pushing him away from things I don’t want him to touch. So a big part of what I am working on now that he is in a bit more of a mischief-mode is setting the environment up for success.

My main strategies for keeping Paco out of trouble are redirection/distraction and removing troublesome stimuli altogether. For example, I have three small tabletop plants that would be unsafe and/or damaging to the plant if he were allowed to “play” with them; but of course, they are irresistible to him. So instead of testing his resolve each time he’s in the house and putting myself in a situation where I create a negative experience by scolding him away from them constantly, I simply move them out of his reach for the periods of time he is inside. The same is true for when he goes to places I don’t want him to be (ie. the stove-top, the floor, the desk). I am hyper-aware that I don’t reinforce/reward him in any way while he is there and am sure to give him big rewards (exuberant praise and/or treats) when he hops on my arm when asked away from those places.

Redirecting his attention onto activities I have deemed suitable is by far the best way I have found to keep him out of toucan trouble-making. Here are some of the things that I am doing now to keep Paco safely entertained in the house:

FOCUS ON FORAGING

Prior to bringing Paco inside, I set the house up as a foraging zone for him. I hide toys in all of the places that I’d like him to focus his attention: behind the pillows and the couch cushions; on the tops of our two highest windows that he likes to sunbathe on; in the ceiling eaves; on top of the TV armoire; and on a couple of shelves that he can easily access without knocking everything down. This activity keeps him engaged in his surroundings and rewards him for spending time in the spots that I’ve pre-selected for him. Plus, as an added bonus, finding things on his own, rather than having them simply handed to him, has sparked a renewed interest in old toys previously shunned.

Here is a video of him in foraging action:

PLAYING HUMAN JUNGLE GYM ON THE FLOOR

I discovered while I was doing some quick yoga stretches with Paco in the house that my body, bent in two, apparently makes the ideal toucan jungle gym. Now one of Paco’s favorite activities is when I roll around on the floor with him, creating tunnels with my body for him to craw under and through. I think he would agree with John Mayer that My Body is a Wonderland.

Initially, I was worried about encouraging this activity because “No Toucans on the Floor” has always been a rule of mine. Paco has a tendency to want to attack feet and I have heard of unfortunate accidents of birds being tripped over while hanging out underfoot. However, I have instead used this game to reinforce Paco’s “up” behavior. When we’re playing on the floor, I will sporadically get up and cue him to come “up” onto my hand. When he complies, I reward him ecstatically and thus, the consistent obedience of this behavior has become even stronger than before.

BUILDING FORTS

Paco has been really into crawling under and out of dark spaces lately. It’s not in a nesty way, but more out of a curious desire to explore the mysterious crevices of the house. Because he is not behaving hormonally when he’s doing it, I decided it was okay to encourage the behavior and create more opportunities for him to tunnel. Also, by creating safe tunneling options, I am able to redirect him away from spaces I don’t want him exploring such as underneath the couch. Besides striking the aforementioned yoga poses for him, I have also started building forts for him out of pillows and blankets.

Here is an example of one I made by simply draping a blanket over two chairs:

INVOLVING PACO IN HOUSEHOLD TASKS

Because he mostly only comes inside for a few hours at a time, I often leave most tasks to be accomplished for the times when I don’t have Paco in the house. Besides work on the computer which is in the same area that he plays, I leave myself free to give him my full supervision (and he needs it!). But lately, while searching for things to keep him occupied, I’ve started to integrate him as my “helper-can” in some basic household chores. Surprisingly, he has found some of these to be highly entertaining and it’s been easier than I thought to find him a role to play.

One of Paco’s current favorite chores is when he helps me water the plants. Splashing his beak in and out of the stream of water each time I fill the watering can and then chomping at the spout as we water the plants is an exciting purr-fest. He also enjoys attacking the paper towels and shredding them as I clean the mirrors and tabletops that he’s smeared with his papaya juiced beak. Lately, he also gets a big kick out of watching me chop vegetables in preparation for cooking dinner later, especially when he is given pieces to play with – chunky carrot sticks being a particular treasure.

As with everything with these curious Three-Cans, I fully expect to have to keep creating new activities to keep Paco’s time in the house focused on positive pursuits. While it’s certainly a lot of effort, it is well worth it for him to be so enriched both mentally and physically. Our bond has continued to strengthen and it’s really amazing to see how much he trusts me as we explore new things together. At the end of a day inside, nothing is more rewarding to me than to watch my exhausted toucan head up to his sleeping perch a bit earlier than usual, tail up, ready for bedtime.

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The Toucan Lady Goes to Parrot School

Posted on February 19, 2013 by Toucan Lady

~ scarlet macaw flight training

I recently had the good fortune to be able to attend the annual Behavior Apps: Training with Art and Science Workshop for companion parrot owners at the Natural Encounters training facility in Florida. The course is designed to introduce you to the science of behavior and provide you with practical techniques of how you can apply it in training with your own pet birds. It was an incredible week that I am really excited to share with you, as it has left me feeling so inspired and much better equipped in my “work” with the Three-Cans.

I originally found Natural Encounters through some bird training articles I had read online that were written by the President, Steve Martin. Duly impressed, I added them to my list of training resources and began following the company on Facebook. Last July, they posted that they were accepting applications for the workshop (only 24 spots available!) and I applied on a hopeful whim, asking if there was any way I could attend even though I do not own parrots. Thankfully, they were not species-ist and were willing to allow in a toucan interloper into their parrot group. I would only later learn that the methods they were teaching are not just for parrots, but are applicable to every animal in the world – including humans!

~ Harpy eagle flight training

I didn’t know exactly what to expect going into the workshop. I had read through the synopsis online and it sounded fantastic (obviously, the reason I applied in the first place!) but I had no idea how it would be structured. The course summary stated that the workshop was “under the leadership of Steve Martin and Dr. Susan Friedman”, so I went in hoping that I would get a chance to meet them, but understood that that might not be possible. I’ve been to plenty of events in the past that were advertised as such, discovering later that that simply meant that the leaders approved of and helped design the material being presented. Overall, I was just hoping to get a few useful take aways from the week, perhaps even a bit of hands-on training time.

~ Hyacinth macaw at Natural Encounters

I am delighted to say that my expectations were blown out of the water and the workshop ended up delivering so much more than I could have even anticipated. For starters, not only were both Steve and Susan present from the beginning at the kick-off ice breaker event, they were with our group throughout the entire workshop – lecturing, giving training demonstrations, and answering any and all questions our over-eager minds were dying to ask them.

I won’t reinvent the wheel, as you can find thorough bios for Steve Martin here and Dr. Susan Friedman here. However, I will say that one could not ask for better teachers. They are the top minds in their related fields, yet are so easy going and down to earth. Both are entertaining, dynamic teachers who make it clear from the get-go that the most important thing to them is that you understand – that means they welcome any comments, feedback, differing opinions, and questions about things that may be unclear to you. They have a unique way of making subjects that once seemed complicated and highly specialized into easily understandable “no brainers” that you can excitedly see immediate application for in your own life.

~ White-collared raven training

In line with the quality of leadership, the rest of the workshop was also a thoroughly organized, professional operation. The entire Natural Encounters team was committed to making sure we were getting the most out of our experience there. Virtually no time was wasted as they strived to make every moment count. Each day was separated into 4 hours of lecture time, 4 hours of hands-on training time with their birds, and applicable training reviews and demonstrations to help us anchor in what we had just learned.

~ training demonstration by Steve Martin

From a very young age, I have always had an interest in animal training and behavior. However, I often found myself at odds with a lot of the training styles popularly available, especially those focused on dominating the animal and removing its ability to think and make its own choices. This was definitely what I loved most about Natural Encounters. Their entire philosophy is based upon empowering the animal and they see unprecedented results through their positive reinforcement training techniques. At no point do they force themselves upon their birds, always respecting the birds by waiting to be invited into their space. They place a high level of importance on building up your relationship account with any animal you choose to work with and completely avoid the use of common bird training methods that create trust deficits such as holding feet, training on small perches, and other mainstream techniques which take away a bird’s freedom to choose to interact with you or not.

~ Hyacinth macaw target training

While I got my fair share of hands-on parrot training time (mostly with an adorable Scarlet macaw named Earth), Steve was also kind enough to pair me with a Trumpeter hornbill named Neo as my main “challenge bird”. Hornbills are much more similar to toucans than parrots are in their movements, high-energy demeanor, and appetite. In the times that I was not directly training with Neo, I gleaned a lot through observational learning, watching my teammates as they trained their assigned birds – Blue-throated macaws, a Hyacinth macaw, and even our other team bird, an incredibly intelligent White-collared raven.

~ training with Neo the Trumpeter hornbill

There were so many a-ha moments for me throughout the workshop but probably my biggest take-away would be what they refer to as antecedent arrangement, which essentially means setting your training environment up for success. A lot of the training roadblocks I have been experiencing back at home are largely due to me not setting myself (and the Three-Cans, for that matter) up to succeed by arranging a setting conducive to what I am attempting to train. Watching the professional trainers at Natural Encounters built my confidence back up. They weren’t performing magic; they were just highly in-tune with the training environment as it could be seen through their subject’s (the bird’s) perspective and always remained flexible to make adjustments as need be. Now that I am back home with the Cans, I have begun making small tweaks to our training environment and have already seen noticeable improvements in their levels of responsiveness. I look forward to sharing more details with you in future posts.

~ scarlet macaw scale training

As if I wasn’t impressed enough with their conservation-minded operation, they also have an incredibly successful breeding program in place for the critically endangered Blue-throated macaws. They are to be releasing their first group back into the wild in Bolivia this year.

~ Blue-throated macaws

I highly recommend this workshop for anyone who has an interest in better understanding the animals in their life. It will make you see the world around you in a whole new light and offer an endless array of simple solutions to overcoming behavioral issues, great and small. Beyond the invaluable opportunity of learning from the best in the business, this workshop is also a fantastic value – I honestly can’t believe that they are able to offer it at the price they do; I felt like I should be paying more! Each day, they host breakfast, lunch, and happy hour (yes, happy hour !) at the training facility, as well as two group dinners. Your final evening, they host a celebration banquet at a beautiful historic restaurant nearby. They also take care of all of your transportation, including round trip from the airport. If you have the opportunity to attend one of their trainings, take it!

~ Scarlet macaw at Natural Encounters

If you would like to see more pictures from my time at the workshop, I will be adding them to an album on Adventures in Toucanland’s Facebook page.

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Building a Handicapped Aviary for a Disabled Toucan

Posted on January 31, 2013 by Toucan Lady

After Pepe’s last fall, we were forced to move him out of the large aviary he shared with Paz and give him some time to recuperate in our house over this past month. What began as full on “cage rest” (time spent solely in his crate while he was weakest so he could recover without injuring himself further) eventually led to half and half crate time and out-of-crate time on a set of low perches in the house that we jury rigged for him.

And while he has definitely made positive strides in his strength and mobility over the past few weeks, it is clear to us at this point that he has reached a bit of a standstill in his forward momentum. He now believes he is stronger than he actually is, which was starting to get dangerous during his out-of-crate time. In moments of bravado, Pepe would try and take flights towards the windows (he was dying to be back outside) and we were having to monitor him incredibly closely to keep him from hurting himself. It was time for a new plan for Pepe’s future.

Our Three-Cans have had the pleasure of living outdoors for all of their lives (from what I know) and being inside the house 100% of the time was a huge bummer for Pepe. I feel like all birds, and especially toucans, really thrive when they are provided with access to the outdoors. It is where they would live naturally and being deprived of the fresh air, sunshine, and other outdoor stimuli is simply unnatural. Towards the end of his time inside with us, we really noticed a difference in Pepe’s mental and emotional state – he seemed dejected and spent a lot of time croaking plaintively and making repeated attempts to go for the windows. We knew we needed to find a way to get him back outside, for his sanity and ours, but there were a lot of issues we needed to sort out in order to keep him safe and not put him in a situation that would lead to more opportunities for injury.

We decided to utilize the space next to the main toucan enclosure that we had previously built as an outdoor play gym for Paco. Seeing as how Paco completely disregards the play gym and instead prefers the railing in front of it, we figured the loss would be negligible. We built it before we really knew that toucans don’t have the focus or desire to stay put on a single play gym anyway, so we were happy to put it to good use and build Pepe an aviary around the existing structure.

The main predicament we had in designing Pepe’s new “handicapped” aviary (as we have come to call it) was to figure out a way for him to be up high, yet not high enough that he could injure himself when he would inevitably fall at some point from his perches. It really seemed to make Pepe feel panicky (as any bird would feel) when he was placed in his crate below our eye line. Birds naturally feel safest when they can be up higher than any perceived danger. We wanted to give Pepe that sense of security when he was back outside, insuring he could always be above people’s heads who are standing near his enclosure.

The solution that we* came up with was to make a half-floor for Pepe’s aviary. That way, he would have the top half of the space and be comforted with the feeling of being up high, yet protected from falling the full height to the bottom of the aviary. We made the floor out of two separate frames on hinges that can be let down during the times we need to enter the aviary ourselves. When they are lifted, they are secured from below where they meet in the middle, as well as with additional bolts that insert from the outside.

Deciding what to place on the false floor as a substrate was another conundrum. We of course wanted it to be easy to clean, but most importantly, wanted to provide some cushion for Pepe’s falls. Our first try was with some rubber entry mats that had a plastic weave on one side that we were hoping would add some “give”. We placed them weave side down though, as we were concerned he could get his toes caught in it. Unfortunately, it was evident that these were a bad choice from the start. After his first couple of falls, he was not able to turn himself over from his back without our assistance due to the mat being too slippery and not giving him anything to grip.

We replaced the solid rubber mats with rubber mats with holes in them, the kind you frequently find in restaurant / commercial kitchens. These new mats will not only be easier to clean and allow better drainage, but will also give Pepe something to grip onto to turn himself over when he falls.

For perches, we mainly used manila rope, which Pepe seems to prefer - no doubt due to it being easiest to grip. We included a few other branches from our almond tree to add sizing variety for his feet. All of the perches are currently placed quite low to the false floor, making them all an accessible hop up from the floor.

Pepe is extremely happy to be back outside. He has perked up considerably - bathing with signature toucan gusto, sunbathing with signature toucan fanaticism, and generally acting jolly with signature toucan joviality. His mobility has also improved slightly – he seems to land more solidly on his perches when he hops and he moves about with more confidence. While we still have a few kinks to sort out with the new aviary, overall we’re all very pleased with Pepe’s new accommodations. We remain hopeful that one day, if he continues to improve, we may even be able to expand his aviary access further. For now, he’s enjoying the new space and his time back within sight of his flock mates.

*NOTE: I would just like to note that while I say “we” a lot in this post, I am mostly referring to David and giving myself a whole heap of undue credit. David is the true creative genius behind this aviary design and without him, I’m afraid I would have come up with something haphazard and made of yoga mats. The Three-Cans and I are incredibly lucky to have David on our team, making all of our lives much happier and much more interesting with his input!

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Nest Logs for Toco Toucans: Part 2, It’s a Box!

Posted on January 24, 2013 by Toucan Lady

our newly designed nest box

Prior to Pepe’s fall and subsequent “divorce” from Paz, we had just completed a newly designed nest box for the pair to use in this upcoming mating season. You may remember from my original post on Nest Logs for Toco Toucans that for our first mating season with the Cans this past year, we had opted to use the basic palm tree trunk design as specified in the Toucan Husbandry Manual by the AZA, also used by Emerald Forest Bird Gardens in California. However, we had had a few issues with it and approached the new season looking for a change.

For starters, our nest log was slightly smaller than the recommended dimensions due to our availability of palm tree trunks. While we were fortunate to even have one to begin with, we would have preferred something slightly larger. At the time, we had just cut down one of our big palms that had died so we used its thick base for the nest. Not wanting to chop down any bigger live trees, we settled for what we could get.

The other main issue we were looking to resolve was finding a way to provide the Cans with more space and easier access in the hopes that they would not lose as many eggs this time around. They lost every egg from all three clutches they laid last season (11 total) and while we did not have a camera in the nest to know for certain, we suspect they were breaking many, if not all, of the eggs as they clumsily entered and exited the nest. To get in, they would have to slide down, beak first. To exit, they would have to leap upward, cling to the door entrance, and pull themselves out through the hole. Both of these maneuvers, as well as all of the shuffling in between, could certainly have led to some broken eggs in the cramped quarters.

sliding into the nest

Lastly, we really wanted to create a back door that would allow us exterior access to the nest without alarming the pair by messing around near their main entrance. Between checking on the eggs and eventually needing to handle the babies should any hatch, this was an essential step that we had skipped in our first attempt and definitely regretted it down the line.

In my search for new nest options, I came across some photos in my fellow Toucan Lady Mairee Vincent’s Chasing Toucans album. While working at the Leed’s Castle Aviaries, they had developed a nest box radically different than the palm trunk log idea and had actually had fully-fledged toucan baby success with them. Plus, the nest boxes appeared to rectify all of the issues we had with our original nest log:

they were made out of wood instead of tree trunks, so we could make them ourselves with the supplies we had available to us here
they were designed with an exterior access door
they were designed with a ramp, allowing the toucans a smoother transition on their way into and out of the nest
toucan babies had actually hatched and survived in them – what more of an endorsement did we need?

nest box design from Mairee

So with Mairee’s help in answering many of our questions, we had our new nest built based on their design. The main change we made was to make the base of the box,.the actual nest portion, into a flat surface rather than keeping it on an incline. We were concerned that if we left it on an incline, the Cans would have difficulty properly incubating the eggs, which could get stuck always resting in the corner. Mairee’s work had not experienced this issue due to their dilligence in constantly refilling the nesting materials. However, since we were starting from scratch and also remembering how insistent our pair was in removing every scrap of nesting material, we just decided to build the base flat, as they were accustomed to with their last nest. Additionally, we placed the access door in the back instead of the side and of course, our nest box was a little bit smaller due to the size of our aviary.

our new nest box design

exterior access door

we used a mix of cork and dried leaves to stuff the nest for them to “excavate”

My favorite feature of the new nest was the idea from Mairee to initially cover the entrance hole with cork. Because Toco toucans tend to nest in hollowed out tree trunks in the wild, especially the soft, porous palm ones, it is a natural behavior of theirs to woodpecker their way in and excavate the nest to their liking. Paz had a great time focusing on the task of pecking her way into the nest.

Paz works her way into the nest

At this point though, we have sadly had to remove the nest box from Paz’s enclosure. The presence of it was inspiring an array of unnecessary nesting behaviors that we needed to stop for her mental and physical well-being. We didn’t want to encourage her obsessive mating behaviors now that Pepe was not to be returning and she would be living without a mate. It was important to prevent the potential stress on her body that would eventually come if she were to lay unfertilized eggs. So as awesome as the new nest box is, unfortunately, it is no longer something we are able to use. Bad timing, c’est la vie!

We will never know if this nest design would have worked for us or not. But, in the spirit of sharing, I just wanted to put the information out there for anyone in need of a new toucan nest design idea.

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Not Meant to Be: The Failed Socialization of Paz & Paco

Posted on January 17, 2013 by Toucan Lady

Paz (left) & Paco (right)

It has been over three weeks since Pepe’s fall and subsequent move out of the aviary he shared with Paz. In true animal/Buddhist fashion, always existing in the present moment, Paz has also moved on with her life. Due to some truly unfortunate timing, we had just completed and installed Paz and Pepe’s newly designed nest box just prior to Pepe’s incident, as they were beginning to exhibit a lot of their mating season behaviors. It has been such a bummer to watch Paz, now alone and without a mate, commit fully to the task of preparing her nest, which she seems to adore.

Having fully accepted that Pepe would not be returning, she diverted her attention to Paco. Even with the original canvas wall in place and no visual contact between the two, she would spend portions of her day devoted to purring and trying to feed him through their shared wall. When she was not actively courting him, she would station herself in her nest, peering out through the entrance hole as though she were waiting for his arrival.

As you can imagine, this tugged heavily on my heart strings. Looking out at the aviaries, seeing Paz and Paco living side by side with a wall in between them began to feel a bit unnatural. Because we knew that Pepe would never be returning to the large aviary, we began to see the potentially huge benefit of being able to open up the entire space and turn the two aviaries into one big flight for Paz and Paco to enjoy together. I also longed for them to both enjoy the companionship of another bird, as I often worry about them being lonely.

But there were also obviously many potential downsides to their pairing that gave us pause. The emotional roller coaster that was Paz and Pepe’s relationship made us leery to jump into it again. I was also concerned about what would happen to the loving, pet-like relationship I had worked so hard to achieve with Paco. I frequently have heard people in the bird world say that you either have pet birds or you have breeder birds, implying that you cannot have both. When I made the original decision to pair Paz and Pepe, I had decided that was a risk I was willing to take, as my relationships with each of them had never been as developed due to their more reserved personalities. But now that the choice was back on the table for my beloved baby Paco, the decision weighed heavily on me – was that something I was willing to potentially sacrifice?

Ever since we adopted the Three-Cans, it was never my intention to breed them. I know nothing about breeding birds and I’ve always felt that I lack the emotional fortitude that is required, as loss of life is often inevitable in the early stages with fragile baby birds. But with Paz and Pepe, we ended up allowing them to be together and breed because we felt it was what they really wanted, that it was only natural for them to live as a pair. And in the end, we made this same decision for Paz and Paco. I felt that my reasons for not allowing them to be together would ultimately be selfish. If there was an opportunity to potentially enrich their lives with companionship within their own species and much larger living accommodations, I needed to set my pet desires aside and give them that chance.

We went about socializing Paz and Paco in much the same way we had originally socialized Paz and Pepe. Moving in small steps as we tested the waters, we started by rolling up the canvas between them to see if they would fight or interact peacefully through their shared wire wall. While there was no fighting, there was definitely a lack of interest on Paco’s part. Paz would court him with her favorite toys and food and he would largely ignore her, as if to say, “Sorry, sweetheart…I’m already seeing someone.”. Because Paco had chosen me as his “mate” early on, I tried to back off a lot of the attention I was giving him to hopefully allow him to make room for Paz in his heart.

After a couple of days of mellow interactions through the wall, we decided it was time to introduce them. I brought Paco next door in his backpack to meet Paz for two short sessions the first day and then a full 8 hours the following day.

Let me just say that socializing animals has got to be one of my least favorite things to do. While it can be an interesting study in body language, it is also not for the weak at heart (ie. me). I remember as a child, we had pairs of bunnies and each time one of them would die (bunnies only average about 4 years at best in their tiny little lives), we would bring in a new bunny as a companion for the one that remained. They would always eventually grow to love and snuggle with each other, but only after days of shockingly vicious fighting you would never associate with the word “bunny”. The same can be said about toucans.

Paz and Pepe went through the initial getting-to-know-you beak fencing that is typical of toucan socialization and courtship. I was prepared to go through the same with Paz and Paco – and it was the same in a lot of ways. Neither one chased the other down to the point of exhaustion, however, their fencing was much more intense than what we had witnessed with Paz and Pepe. I think a lot of this can be attributed to the fact that they are more closely matched in attitude and mobility than Paz and Pepe ever were. Neither can was quite willing to back down, as Pepe had always done being the smaller, weaker can. I even had to intervene a few times when they were getting too close to poking each other’s eyes out in a fit of fury.

My 8 hour day in the aviaries alternated between crushing boredom and intense bouts of stress. At first, Paco had the upper hand, probably surprising Paz with his scrappiness. I always call him my “little ninja” and this was one of those times that he really lived up to the moniker. They would fence a bit, then separate and go about their individual business. But as time wore on, they became unable to focus on anything other than fighting with each other and Paz’s larger size and greater strength eventually won out.

As they fenced, they kept reaching points where they would lock beaks together and she would use her size to dominate over him and literally fling him across the enclosure. Because he is so agile, he would never fall, but instead, glide to a stop and quickly hop back up from the ground onto a low perch. I believe this was key to him making it for as long as he did with her, as this is where Pepe got himself into danger. Paz fights a bit on the dirty side – her strategy seems to be to kick them when they are down. In these moments, she would rush down to go for the final blow with Paco, but he would already be up and postured to defend himself before she could trap him.

Paz (left) & Paco (right)

I’m sure you’re wondering why I hadn’t already separated them at this point. The fact is, I was just trying to gauge the situation as best I could as the day progressed, trying to give them as much time as possible to hopefully sort out their trust issues and move on to the next stage in their relationship. Neither appeared exhausted and they were giving each other short break periods to recover after each match. However, it all culminated in the afternoon and gave us our final sign for their future (or lack thereof) as a pair.

During what would be their final round of beak fencing, Paz saw an opportunity to make a quick grab for Paco’s neck and she took it. She locked in and tossed him down, still attached and shaking him as he flailed. It all happened in a sickening flash before they were on the ground, with Paco fighting for his life. It was the single worst moment I have experienced with the Three-Cans so far. David and I lunged in immediately and pried them apart. Thankfully, the only damage Paz seemed to have done was ripping out a few of Paco’s neck feathers, but that was enough for me. I brought Paco back to the safety of his aviary and cried like a baby because I almost lost my baby.

Paz really confuses me from a behavioral standpoint and out of curiosity’s sake, I wish I could find more answers about why she acts the way she does. With both of the males, she always seemed eager to court them into mating, yet when given an opportunity during a moment of weakness, she was also always ready to move in for the kill. Perhaps this is a female Toco thing or maybe it’s just a Paz thing. Maybe it’s just because she is so much bigger and stronger than the males available to her. I am also aware that there could be environmental aspects that contribute to her seemingly confused behavior (rough past, aviary size, lack of early socialization with other birds, human interference, etc.). But whatever it may be, I’m done with breeding (or at least attempting to breed) toucans and am ready to leave it to the professionals.

I hearby announce the official conclusion of our foray into toucan breeding. I must say, as much as I actually did wish for it all to work out on the Cans’ behalf, I find that I’m quite relieved with this outcome. We are beyond fortunate that we were able to intervene at the times we did and still have both of our males alive and healthy with us. We gave it our best shot and it’s time to move on with our lives. From here on out, my energies will be focused on enriching the Three-Cans’ individual lives as best I can.

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My Pepe is Broken and I Don’t Know How to Fix Him

Posted on January 9, 2013 by Toucan Lady

It’s time for me to share some sad news about The Pepster. Things have been quite stressful for the last couple of weeks in Toucanland and while they’re starting to look up a bit, we still have a lot of adjustments ahead for all of us. Here is what happened…

On December 21st, Pepe had a bad fall in the early morning. I often check on the Three-Cans throughout the day through our kitchen window and luckily happened to peek out at them in the nick of time. Because I couldn’t see Paz or Pepe, I went outside to investigate and was fortunately able to intervene just as Paz was about to attack Pepe, who was motionless on the ground on his back, unable to defend himself. If I hadn’t stepped in when I did, I’m pretty certain she would have killed him. It was an incredibly scary moment, not just due to her aggression, but also because I have never seen Pepe so helpless – for a few breathless beats, I thought he was already dead.

Pepe’s temporary indoor set-up

Thankfully, he was not, but my concern quickly evolved as he didn’t recover as fast as he usually does after a fall. This time, he couldn’t even hold himself up on a perch initially without me holding his body upright. If you have been following Pepe’s story, you probably remember that falls aren’t new to him. He has always been our clumsy-can who’s had inexplicable balance issues since we adopted him – but this time was much worse than anything we’ve experienced with him thus far.

Once he was able to perch again, we realized that he was not going to be able to remain safely in his aviary without injuring himself further in his weakened state. We brought him into the house in his crate and he’s been in here recovering ever since. We are beyond grateful to our wonderfully caring vets who have had to make several trips to visit Pepe since the fall. At first, he resisted drinking and had to have fluids pumped into him several times to keep him hydrated. They have also taken extensive x-rays which show no signs of fractures or breaks. He shows no signs of infection and his blood results indicate only slightly elevated liver enzymes, which apparently, can mean a number of things when it comes to birds.

Pepe napping in the house

Pepe is now back to eating, drinking, and otherwise behaving normally with the exception of his mobility. His ability to balance and move about remains very limited – we have to keep a close watch on him all day because when he falls, he still cannot manage to turn himself over from his back without our assistance. It’s heartbreaking and also so frustrating to not know what exactly is wrong with him, leaving us unable to proactively “fix” him. The Three-Can’s past is a complete mystery to us so information that would be incredibly helpful in Pepe’s diagnosis remain unknown such as his age and medical history.

The vets are cautiously optimistic. It’s still inconclusive whether it’s really Hemochromatosis, the iron storage disease common to toucans, as it can only be definitively diagnosed through a liver biopsy. We are currently treating him with some anti-inflammatory medication that may give us some more answers about his future, depending on how his body reacts to it.

Paco visiting & providing entertainment

We are able to let him out of his crate for periods throughout the day onto some low perches we have arranged for him in the house. It is nice to see him bright-eyed and perked up a bit more like his old self again, but unfortunately, his brain is at a level his body is not. He still attempts to fly off and make jumps he is not ready for, so we are having to guard his out-of-crate time closely, in an effort to prevent any further injuries. Our current situation with him living in his crate in the house is not ideal for any of us. While Paco would relish in all of the extra attention, Pepe is a bird-bird, preferring the company of his toucan flock to us humans. He also craves the outdoors and is constantly yearning for it through the windows, in hopes that he can return outside.

In his current state, with no recent signs of further improvement, we feel it would be too dangerous to allow him to live in his old aviary – it is simply too large and too high. And, as sad as this is, it is also pretty definitive that he cannot live with Paz ever again either. She has always been so much bigger and stronger than him and if we are really being honest with ourselves, she was probably never a good match for Pepe mobility-wise in the first place, even when he was at his personal 100%.

At this point, it has been almost three weeks and we’re ready to accept his situation as a potentially lasting way of life that needs to be accommodated. We have started exploring our options in building him an altered aviary which would prevent him from falling from great heights. We are also working on some ideas for a larger indoor enclosure for him to live in for now, in place of the crate, as he still needs to be closely monitored. I sure wish there was someone out there who could provide some clarity – it is exhausting not knowing what exactly to do! In the meantime, just keeping calm and carrying on. I’ll keep you updated with what we learn and Pepe’s continued (hopefully) improvement.

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Relationships Change Us All

Posted on January 2, 2013 by Toucan Lady

photo by Dave Womach

No matter how independent we consider ourselves, no matter how set in our own ways we may be, we have all no doubt made some changes within ourselves over the course of a romantic relationship at some point in our lives. Whether it be re-training ourselves to sort our dirty laundry into baskets rather than strewing it about on the floor or teaching ourselves to cook to be able to surprise the object of our desire with something sweet – it is often times something we would not have done for another, something we would not have been motivated to even try, had we not been so smitten. As I have watched the relationship of Paz and Pepe develop, I have found that toucans are no exception to this relationship eventuality.

When we adopted the Three-Cans, we had given them two water options – a large pan, stationed near their food, to drink from and a large bowl on the aviary floor to bathe in – in an effort to meet their instinctual needs based on what we had researched regarding their natural behaviors. The bathing bowl on the floor was a new concept for all three of them, as they had not been provided with one in their past living situation. While Paz immediately embraced the bathing bowl as the civilized female she is, Paco and Pepe remained set in their old ways, continuing to bathe in the same water pan they drank from. Both boys refused to even dip a toe into their bathing bowls, no matter how enticing I tried to make them appear. But love ended up being the impetus that changed things for Mr. Pepe.

When Pepe first moved in with Paz, she was highly disapproving of his bathing habits. Anytime Pepe would begin a bath in one of their now shared drinking pans, Paz would chase him away, irritating him ceaselessly with her persistent harassment until he would finally give up on his bathing pursuits for the day. This worried us at first – we didn’t want her to bully Pepe out of being able to take baths altogether and were concerned that this would lead to her bullying him out of even more important things in the future, such as food. So we kept a close watch on the pair and have been nothing short of amazed as we’ve witness the transition as Paz worked diligently to recondition Pepe’s behavior “problem” to suit her cleanliness standards.

Using negative reinforcement (against all bird training advice!) and observational learning, Paz has now officially trained her toucan-man to bathe in the correct bowl, preserving the cleanliness of their shared drinking water from his “dirty” bootie. Pepe converted at last and now routinely bathes in the lower bathing bowl, forgoing convenience to please his beloved.

Here is the latest awww-inspiring bath time footage of The Pepster:

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Large vs. Small Toucans as Pets

Posted on December 18, 2012 by Toucan Lady

Between this blog, Facebook, You Tube, and here at the aviaries, I receive tons of comments on an almost daily basis of people claiming, “I want a toucan too!”. Some are obviously just expressing their desire as a figure of speech to share their enthusiasm for the Three-Cans, but some people are definitely more serious than others – people actually considering getting a toucan as a pet sometime in their future, whether it be near or distant.

Because toucans are much more rare of a pet than parrots, fewer people are familiar with the range of species in the toucan (Ramphastos) family. While many may think of my Tocos when they say “toucan”, there are actually over 38 species of toucan, covering a broad range of sizes. To say “I want a toucan” is as vague a statement as saying “I want a parrot”. Parrot can cover anything from a teeny little budgerigar to a giant macaw. The same is true with toucans – the smallest aracaris are less than half the size of the largest toucan species, the Toco.

Collared Aracari

I wrote a post awhile back titled, “So You Think You Want a Toucan” which describes more of the realities of toucans as pets – challenges that I believe people should take into honest consideration before bringing a toucan into their lives. But because I only have first-hand experience with my three Tocos, the article is mostly centric on challenges associated with keeping the larger toucans as pets. From what I have learned over the past year in the toucan community, the smaller species of toucan such as aracaris and toucanets, are quite different from the larger toucans behaviorally and can make much better pets.

Curl-Crested Aracari

One big aracari fan in particular is Jeff Hunter, who I was fortunate to meet through the Yahoo Toucan Forum and has proceeded to make me fall in love with aracaris with each subsequent conversation we have. He always contributes really interesting information to the forum and has experience with several different species of toucan, both large and small. Jeff’s views on toucans as pets are in alignment with my own and I knew he would do a much better job than I to help weigh the differences between the large vs. small toucans as pets.

You may remember Jeff from one of my past posts in the species special feature series on Curl-Crested aracaris. Without further ado, I’ll give the floor to Jeff, this time to discuss in more depth toucans as pets.

Green Aracari

Hi, Jeff. Thank you so much for taking the time to share your toucan wisdom with us. You are definitely one of my favorite people to talk toucans with! You are always so generous with your time and often offer people on the toucan forum a lot of useful advice when it comes to caring for and adopting toucans. You are quite a big aracari fan and often seem to try and steer people away from the larger toucans as pets. Is that intentional?

I’d like to preface my remarks with the admission that these are my opinions, based on my experience and the experiences of close friends who keep (or have kept) pet toucans. As with all generalities, there are going to be exceptions. Also, my remarks on the natural history of Ramphstids are based on the standard published ornithological sources; I have not personally observed toucans or their behavior in the wild.

But I do have an agenda in trying to direct new bird keepers away from the large toucans as house pets. I’ve kept four and still currently have two Tocos. I previously had a Swainson’s and my first toucan was a Plate-billed Mountain toucan. All were hand-raised and tame, but large toucan tame and aracari tame are two different things. The main differences as far as one considering taking a Ramphastid on as a companion animal are two – logistical and cultural.

Plate-Billed Mountain Toucan

Okay, let’s start with logistical. What would you say are the main logistical considerations people should make when comparing large vs. small toucans as pets?

I believe that logistically speaking, very few pet owners have the space and place for a large toucan. All of my large toucans were like bulls in a china shop in our house. They need a large amount of space around them to both maneuver and feel comfortable and safe. As you know, a Toco can cover 20 feet in a large hop, barely opening its wings. There aren’t a lot of houses with that amount of open space. And I personally believe that the minimum toucan “cage” should be a large aviary – about the size of yours.

You’re so right. Space is something I am always trying to increase for my big, hyper Tocos. You also mentioned that there are “cultural” reasons that large toucans do not make good pets. What do you mean when you say “cultural”?

The second, cultural reason (and I think one actually can speak of animal cultures) is that the large toucans are more aggressive and singular than aracaris. Aracaris sleep in their tree holes every night, sometimes in fairly large family groups, even when they’re not breeding. Aracari families sometimes communally raise the breeding pair’s chicks. The large toucans generally only use their nest holes during the breeding season. This cultural tendency to feel comfortable with and even crave close physical contact shapes the aracari personality in a way that makes them more suitable as companions for us flightless, biped apes.

Curl-Crested Aracari pair

Even when in a large flight, aracaris will spend a considerable amount of time sitting next to each other and preening each other. The large toucans do not engage in the behavior as often, and even mated pairs may stay out of actual physical contact with each other for the entire day. As a result, the large toucans crave more personal space and can often take a solicitation intended as affection (an outstretched hand) as a threat action.

Tocos are unique among Ramphastids in a number of ways. According to the literature, they are the only non-forest species, preferring generally open country dotted with trees. And, probably as part and parcel of that (fewer trees = lower concentration of food per acre), they don’t usually travel in the large, often mixed flocks that other toucans do. Swainson’s and Keel-billeds, for example, will travel through the rainforest in very loose flocks of 5 to 7 or more individuals, often mixed with aracaris. So do the mountain toucans and the large uber-family that makes up the Ramphastos vitellinis group (6 to 8 subspecies, depending on who’s counting). Tocos usually travel singly or, at most, in pairs. All the aracaris travel in large family and “tribe” groups (related families), often mixing with other aracari species as well.

Keel-Billed Toucan

Typically, in the animal world, the generalization is usually that the bigger the animal, the calmer its demeanor (ie. small, yippy dogs like Chihuahuas compared to the larger, mellow Mastiffs). I feel like my large Tocos are so high energy and almost spazzy at times. I’ve often thought that the smaller toucans must be even wilder. Have you found that to be true?

It almost seems to me that the smaller size of the aracaris actually makes them less “twitchy” and nervous, because they are comfortable with less personal space around them. I always used to tell visitors that though Daisy, my femaleToco, is the biggest of my toucans, she is also the most “chicken”. She is very afraid of strangers, whereas the aracaris are all over them in a minute, hopping down their shirts or up their pants legs. Again, the Toco is the only non-flocking toucan, which makes them even more independent.

That’s interesting. I’ve heard Toco toucans referred to as the “gentle giants” of the toucan world, similar to the Hyacinth macaws of the parrot world. What do you think about that?

That hasn’t been my experience. There are times when Tocos are gentle – on their terms, and they decide the time, and with which person. My Swainson’s toucan, Jimmy, was gentler than any Toco I’ve interacted with – but even he would choose his times and people. My sister has a Swainson’s who is very bonded and gentle with her, but won’t let any of her friends approach.

Swainson's Toucan

Daisy, my female Toco, has personally given me brief experiences of synesthesia – I swear I have tasted colors and touched sounds for about 10 minutes after a good pounding on the skull from her when changing out a food dish. And then she would be sweet as pie 2 minutes later. In Japanese, the Toco toucan is called the “Devil Toucan” by the way(オニオオハシ). So much for gentle giants.

How would you say the larger toucans adjust to the typical human home in comparison to the aracaris?

The greater size, independence, and perhaps intelligence of the larger toucans, in my opinion, makes them a good pet for one household in a million; ideally, they should be kept at liberty, like many are in Central and South America – flying about in the garden or forest as they please, and coming back to the human home to play, eat, or roost as they please. Your situation is a very close second to that – you’re doing it right.

Green Aracari

An aracari, on the other hand, can be incorporated into a human household fairly easily. Rocky, my Curl-Crested aracari, follows me around our (admittedly, quite small) house, turning corners from room to room in flight in a way Daisy the Toco or Jimmy the Swainson’s could never do in that restricted area. When Rocky wants some alone time, he goes back to his cage or perches on the edge of a shallow bowl sitting on top our microwave which he has made his poop station in the kitchen/family room. He joins us on the couch WITHOUT having to drive the dogs out of the room first, and jumps down your shirt to be snuggled or squeezes into a space between you and a pillow or you and a dog or person for a group nap. And he craves physical contact in general. This was also true of the Green aracari I had (my first Ramphastid, Frank, now “stolen” by a dear friend who lives nearby and fell in love with him) and is true for a friend’s Collared aracari, Rafi, who I care for sometimes.

Collared & Curl-Crested Aracari friends

I also had another friend with a large toucan who had such a hard time with her toucan mercilessly attacking her husband that she had to send the bird to “summer camp” – the place of a friend who has large outdoor aviaries, until breeding season was over and her toucan calmed down again. And this friend truly made a superhuman effort to accommodate her toucan. In most households, I think the bird would have been gone by now. I had to get rid of my Plate-billed Mountain toucan for the same reason; he would chase my partner around the house with intent to kill and once inscribed a net “Z for Zorro” slash on his cheek. I traded him back to my breeder for Daisy my Toco.

Are there any other considerations people should take when choosing a large vs. small toucan as a pet?

Last thing to say about large toucans vs. aracaris: noise. Though none of them compare with a parrot’s screech, the beautiful, haunting call of a Swainson’s carries for miles, which is why I had to eventually part with my Jimmy. The call of the Toco carries for blocks. And the call of a friend’s Keel-billed can be heard by neighbors. Not so with an aracari – another thing that makes them an easier fit for Life with Humans.

A sample of a Swainson’s call…

If you’d like a closer look into the lives of some of my fellow toucan owners who keep a range of species, you may click on the links below to be directed to some of my earlier interviews:

- Touk the Green Aracari

- Pixie the Swainson’s

- Pogo the Keel-Billed

- Yoshi the Emerald Toucanet

- Jeff’s Curl-Crested Aracari Crew

- Rafi the Collared Aracari

Special thanks to Jeff for all of his insights. If you’re thinking of adopting a toucan and have further questions, please do not hesitate to contact me at toucanlady@adventuresintoucanland.com and I will be happy to help in any way I can, including putting you in contact with others who may better answer your questions.

*The pictures in this post were provided by Jeff Hunter, Emily Reinys, Anita Tash, and me. *

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Interview with a Fellow Toucan Lady

Posted on December 3, 2012 by Toucan Lady

I recently discovered that there is a whole other me across the sea. Well, not me exactly, but we do share a lot of shocking similarities. We’re both brunettes. We’re both women. And – here’s the big one – we are both Crazy Toucan Ladies. That’s right, folks, there is another brown-haired woman out there who is just as obsessed with toucans as I am – although her obsession is sprinkled with a lovely British accent.

Meet Mairee Vincent, fellow Toucan Lady!

I’m sure you can imagine my delight when the mastermind website that is Facebook connected me with Mairee (pronounced like Marie) Vincent, a fellow female toucan devotee in the UK. Even more impressive, her toucan obsession is also her profession (she’s currently a zookeeper at ZSL Whipsnade Zoo) and she is in possession of a wealth of toucan knowledge from her studies all over the world. My immediate instinct upon connecting with her was to pummel her with toucan questions great and small. To prevent myself from appearing too obnoxiously nosy, I decided to use this blog as a clever segue into a legitimate dialogue on toucans (mwahaha!). My Toucan Lady counterpart graciously agreed to do an interview with Toucanland and now, not only do I have a new toucan friend, you do too. I am so pleased to introduce you to Mairee Vincent.

Toucans love Mairee

Hi Mairee! How did you first come to work with toucans? Was it a job you sought out or did you just fall into it?

I have worked with many species of animals, but mainly birds, throughout my career as a zookeeper, which began in 1994. I started off working with a wide variety of owls, eagles, flamingos, and Humboldt penguins. From there, the manager of the zoo wanted to expand into working with parrots and began teaching me all about keeping them. I was smitten with a Green-wing macaw – a Customs seizure and the first macaw that I had worked with. On that section, I worked with a range of cockatoos (Umbrella, Triton, and Moluccan), macaws (Scarlet’s, Buffon’s, Blue & Gold, and Green-wing), Franklins, and finches. It was then that I really started to get interested in birds.

Mairee Vincent, zookeeper extraordinaire

After working there for seven years, I felt it was time to move on and got a job at Leeds Castle Aviaries in Kent. Leeds had over 70 species of birds and introduced me to working with waterfowl species, lorikeets, softbills, and cranes. This is where I first got introduced to toucans and fell in love / became obsessed with them! There were two pairs of Toco toucans and a pair of Channel-billed toucans. Leeds was one of the only two collections in the UK that were regularly breeding toucans – the other being ZSL London Zoo. The more I worked with them and learnt about them, the more I wanted to find out!

What species of toucans have you worked with? Do you have a favorite species?

Leeds Castle unfortunately closed in March 2012 and all of the birds were relocated. Fortunately, I still work with our Channel-billed pair at ZSL Whipsnade Zoo. Our Red-billed toucan is at ZSL London Zoo, currently being paired up with a male.

Channel-billed Toucans

An opportunity arose to apply for a travel award for the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust Fund (WCMT). They provided full project funding for fellows carrying out overseas projects. I was fortunate enough to be one of the 100 people to have been picked out of the 775 applicants that year.

I spent 7 weeks out in the field gaining over 500 hours of field experience. Our main investigation was looking at the intestinal bacteria flora of wild toucans, however, as there is so little written about wild toucans, all information gathered was of great interest. From this trip, I came back with more questions than I went with and even more of an obsession.

You can view my full report for the WCMT here.

wild Toco toucan sighting

My next trip took me to Dallas World Aquarium, as they have the largest collection of species of toucans, toucanets, and aracaris kept in captivity and have bred over half of them, including a few world firsts.

After going to Dallas, I have worked with most species but regularly, I have worked with Tocos, Channel-bills, and Red-bills. My favorites have to be Tocos, although I also like some of the little barbets and toucanets – they also have big personalities!

What do you feel is the biggest problem facing toucans in captivity?

Toucans face many problems in captivity including iron-storage disease (Hemochromatosis), beak fractures, and parasites. While those are all commonly listed problems, the main issue seems to be bacterial disease. They suffer from acute negative bacterial infections which arise in the intestine and often prove fatal within 24 hours. In a captive survey conducted by Dr. John Lewis, 36% (5/14) of toucans died from Yersinia (mainly Y. psedutuberculosis). In order to manage these birds in captivity more effectively, this problem must be overcome.

Toco toucan & the kerplunk game

Do you recommend toucans as pets?

Toucans as pets can be very rewarding, however, I would recommend researching thoroughly before getting one. The main problem which is often overlooked with any bird is time. They are an intelligent animal and thrive on attention and activity. If you haven’t got the time to devote attention regularly, I wouldn’t recommend getting one. Also, given that one large bite of fruit takes 70 minutes to go through their digestive tract, you also need plenty of time for cleaning!

After studying Toco toucans in the wild, what was the most surprising thing you observed in comparison to your experiences with them in captivity?

There were lots of things that surprised me in the wild compared to captivity. One of the most interesting was when they raided other birds’ nests for chicks, they worked as a pair with one bird acting as a decoy whilst the other raided the nest. They would then go back and check up to a month later to see if the other birds had re-laid.

wild Toco toucan raiding nests

When I was asking locals about roughly how many toucans they thought they had as a population in the area, they all replied with 15, currently. I was surprised at their accuracy and questioned if they could be sure. I was told it was easy to check as out of the breeding season they all flew overhead in single file!

What is your favorite thing about toucans that makes you so passionate about them?

I have many favorite things about toucans – they are just so bizarre and quirky! I always want to know more about them. For example, it is only in the last three years that we’ve found out what their beaks do – something Darwin himself debated – and it turns out it helps regulate their body temperature! From nostrils in strange places, keel pads so their feet are up by their eyes when they’re born, tails on ball & socket joints, let alone their colourings and huge personalities – there is so much to discover.

Here’s a video exolaining in further more detail how toucans use their beaks to regulate their body temperature:

Can you give a brief overview of the worldwide questionnaire you are conducting? What do you hope to gain from it?

Toucans are a big part of my life – if I’m not working with them, I’m researching about them. After my trip, I conducted a UK questionnaire on toucans and also got offered a role advising for EAZA (European Association of Zoos and Aquaria) on in situ projects in the wild.

The nest step after the UK questionnaire was to go global! I am currently writing to all of the zoos, aquariums, and anyone that looks after toucans such as rehab centers, etc. I am looking to find out what people feed them so that I may analyze their diets. I am also looking at their accommodations, perching, husbandry, and also what deaths they have had. Hopefully by examining those causes I can try and determine the biggest reasons for deaths of toucans in captivity.

I’ve definitely had some interesting results back but so far, my favorite story is one of toucans which were housed with stingrays in a pond within their flight. The toucans kept finding rocks and throwing them in the water trying to sink the rays!

wild Toco

Thank you, Mairee, for taking the time out of your busy toucan lifestyle to chat with us. The more you talk, the more I just want to keep asking questions. But I’ll stop here for now and hope for a Part 2 to continue the toucan chat in the future. Best wishes to you on your questionnaire and all of the other exciting projects you have underway!

If you’d like to follow Mairee’s toucan adventures, be sure to check out her entertaining Facebook page, Chasing Toucans.

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