About Andigena hypoglauca (Gould, 1833)
The grey-breasted mountain toucan, Andigena hypoglauca, is 41 to 48 cm (16 to 19 inches) long and weighs 244 to 370 g (8.6 to 13 ounces). Within each subspecies, males and females share identical plumage. The two subspecies also have the same bill pattern, though the female’s bill is shorter. The base of the bill is yellow to greenish, with a black band located close to the base. The outer two-thirds of the maxilla is red, meeting the yellow portion of the bill along a diagonal line. The outer half of the mandible is black. Both subspecies have black caps, faces, and napes; a gray-blue band on the hindneck; a greenish brown back; and gray to gray-blue underparts. Their tail is blackish, with chestnut-colored tips on the two or three central pairs of feathers. The nominate subspecies has a bright yellow rump, pale gray-blue flanks, chestnut thighs, and red undertail coverts. Its eyes are brown, and each eye is surrounded by bare blue skin. Subspecies A. h. lateralis has a paler yellow rump than the nominate subspecies, plus pale yellow to gray-white flanks and a yellow to green eye. The nominate subspecies of the grey-breasted mountain toucan ranges from central and southern Colombia into eastern Ecuador. A. h. lateralis ranges from eastern Ecuador south deep into Peru. This species lives in wet temperate montane forest, including cloud forest, elfin forest, and secondary forest. Most individuals are found at elevations between 2,200 and 3,650 m (7,200 and 12,000 ft), though the species has been recorded as low as 1,500 m (4,900 ft) in Peru and 1,700 m (5,600 ft) in Ecuador.
