Vinicio Pérez, the owner of the Birdwatcher's House and restaurant, is also a seasoned English speaking tour guide in Mindo and all Ecuador. He was born in the Mindo region and knows the area like the back of his hand. 
Toucan Barbet
The Toucan Barbet, Semnornis ramphastinus, is a distinctive bird found in humid forests growing on the west Andean slopes in north-western Ecuador and south-western Colombia. While it remains fairly common locally, it has declined due to habitat loss and trapping for the cage-bird trade.
In the past, it has been grouped with the other barbets in the Capitonidae. However, DNA studies have confirmed that this arrangement is paraphyletic; the New World barbets are more closely related to the toucans than they are to the Old World barbets. As a result, the barbet lineages are now considered to be distinct families, and the Toucan Barbet, together with the Prong-billed Barbet, is now placed into a separate family, Semnornithidae.
The Toucan Barbet is unusual amongst frugivorous birds in that it breeds cooperatively, with several helpers aiding the dominant breeding pair with incubation and raising the young.
Choco Toucan
The Choco Toucan (Ramphastos brevis) is a large, mainly black bird found in humid lowland and foothill forests on the Pacific slope of Colombia and Ecuador. Within its range, extensive habitat destruction is taking place, but it remains fairly common locally.
Description
The Choco Toucan is a large (although among the smallest Ramphastos toucans), predominantly black bird with a striking yellow and black beak, a yellow bib, white uppertail coverts, red undertail coverts and green ocular skin. It is very similar to the larger Chestnut-mandibled Toucan, but lacks brown to the beak. In the wild, the two are generally best separated by their voice; croaking in the Choco, yelping in the Chestnut-mandibled.Distribution
Reproduction
In captivity
The Choco Toucan (Ramphastos brevis) is a large, mainly black bird found in humid lowland and foothill forests on the Pacific slope of Colombia and Ecuador. Within its range, extensive habitat destruction is taking place, but it remains fairly common locally.
Crimson-rumped Toucanet
The Crimson-rumped Toucanet (Aulacorhynchus haematopygus) is a species of bird in the Ramphastidae family. It is found in humid Andean forests in Ecuador, Colombia and Venezuela. Its plumage is overall green (often fainly tinged blue), except for a maroon-red rump and tail-tip. The bill is black and maroon with a white band at the base.
