Peppereaters: The Toucans of Europe
Wed, Feb 25
|OLLI at UNC Asheville
Join Rick Wright for an amusing and richly illustrated tour through the earliest literature of the toucans, aracaris, and other big-nosed birds of the American tropics. https://www.blueridgeaudubon.org/program-meetings
Time & Location
Feb 25, 2026, 6:00 PM – 7:30 PM
OLLI at UNC Asheville, 300 Campus View Rd, Asheville, NC 28804, USA
About the event
No, there aren't any toucans in the Old World—no wild ones, at least. But over the centuries, the
natural historians of Europe have taken the ramphastids to heart as the ultimate emblems of the
exotic. Join Rick Wright for an amusing and richly illustrated tour through the earliest literature
of the toucans, aracaris, and other big-nosed birds of the American tropics.
After an academic career, Rick now leads Birds and Art tours for Victor Emanuel Nature Tours
in Europe and the Americas. He also writes extensively about birds; among his recent