Keel-billed Toucan (also known as Rainbow-billed Toucan)

This specimen is a drab olive-grey flight feather from the Keel-billed Toucan. While famous for its bright yellow chest and large, multicolored bill, many of its wing feathers are muted dark green-brown or brownish-black to provide camouflage in the forest canopy.

Uniform olive-brown to charcoal grey tone across the vane, fading into a pale, translucent quill base.

Densely packed pennaceous barbs forming a smooth, cohesive surface; plumulaceous base near the calamus.

A light-colored, slender central shaft with closely spaced, parallel barbs extending at a uniform angle.

Smooth, slightly stiff, and non-reflective matte finish.

Wing feather, specifically an inner secondary or primary covert.

Uniform brownish-olive coloration, asymmetric flight vane structure, pale stiff rachis, and absence of bold bars or spots.

Tropical humid lowland forests, forest edges, and second-growth woodlands.

Southeastern Mexico through Central America into northern Colombia.

Key seed disperser for large fruit-bearing tropical trees in Central American rainforests.

Chestnut-mandibled Toucan (Ramphastos swainsonii) feathers are virtually identical in dull flight feather coloration, but typically slightly larger.

The Keel-billed Toucan is the national bird of Belize. Despite its giant bill, it flies weakly in short spurts, relying heavily on hopping between branches.

Toucans hold significant cultural importance in Neotropical indigenous art and folklore; feathers were traditionally used in ceremonial adornments.

Look along forest trails and under fruiting trees in Panama during the annual molt period (post-breeding season).

Good condition; intact vane with minor fraying near the base and a clean calamus.

Found in Gamboa, Panama