The first sighting of toucans in the wild is always exhilarating - the large size of the bird, the bright colors, the enormous, almost cartoonish bill. Toucans are usually first noticed flying from treetop to treetop in small groups. The effect of the bill seeming to lead the bird is that toucans appear unbalanced while flying. Toucans are gregarious forest birds, usually observed in flocks of 3 to 12. The birds are playful, grasping each other's bills in apparent contests, and tossing fruit to each other.
Toucans are primarily fruit-eaters, preferring the darkest, so ripest, fruit.
Their long bill allows them to perch on heavier, stable branches and reach a distance for hanging fruits. They snip the fruit off, hold it at the tip of the bill, and then, with a forward flip of the head, toss the fruit into the air and into their throats. Toucans also increase their protein intake by consuming the occasional insect, spider, or small reptile, or even bird eggs or nestlings. Sometimes individual fruit trees are defended by a mated toucan pair from other toucans or from other frugivorous birds - defended by threat displays and even, against other toucans, by bill clashes. Breeding is during the dry season.