TROGONS: Trogoniformes

PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS

Trogons (TROH-gahnz) are medium-sized, compact, brightly plumaged (feathered) birds that live mostly in trees; possess thin, delicate skin; soft and dense plumage; short necks; short, heavy, broad-hooked bills; short, rounded wings; long, broadly squared tails; and small, weak legs and feet. They are 9 to 16 inches (23 to 41 centimeters) long (excluding the tail streamer, the central part of the tail that is extra-long) and weigh between 1.2 and 7.3 ounces (35 and 210 grams).

Broad bills and weak legs are due to the trogon diet and arboreal (tree living) habits. In some species, bills are not curved but have serrated (saw blade-like) cutting edges. Trogon feet are described as heterodactyl (het-ur-oh-DAK-tuhl), with the first and second inner front toes turned backward and the third and fourth toes turned forward. This unusual toe arrangement allows them to cling vertically to trees. Their weak feet are unable to turn without the help of their wings.

Adult males are among the most brilliantly colored of all tropical birds. Their plumage is a brilliant green with some yellow, blue, or violet on the upper body, head, breast, and back; and yellow, orange, pink, or carmine (deep red) on the belly. Since trogon skin is delicate, feathers are easily lost. Central tails are long and broad, and hide three outer feathers usually with black or white bars; the outer feathers can be twice the length of inner tails. Females are duller in appearance, with browns and grays replacing the blues and greens of males. Female under parts, however, are often as brightly colored as those of males. Many trogons have distinctive bar-like or wavy wing sections, colored white-on-black in males and buff-on-black in females. Juveniles are irregularly brown patched with white and buff spots.

GEOGRAPHIC RANGE

Trogons are distributed throughout central and southern Africa, Southeast Asia, Central America, and north and central South America.

HABITAT

Trogons usually live in tropical forests, being found from rainforests to tropical woodlands. Most species are scattered within the tropics and subtropics, usually inhabiting the middle elevations of forests. On the northern and southern edges of their habitat, trogons live in drier climates including thorn forests, bamboo thickets, and savannas (flat grasslands).

DIET

Trogons eat fruits and insects, and sometimes small vertebrates (animals with backbones), although diets vary depending on the continent. African species are either exclusively insectivorous (feeding solely on insects) or carnivorous (feeding solely on meat), while species in Asia and the Americas eat both foods. Moths, butterflies, stick insects, beetles, small lizards, snails, frogs, and other similar creatures are also eaten. Trogons capture most food by hovering over prey before grabbing it from the air or off of branches. They swallow their food whole usually while sitting on a perch.

BEHAVIOR AND REPRODUCTION

Trogons fly with a graceful up and down motion, but are reluctant to fly far. Because trogons have short legs and weak feet, they are unable to walk. Normally, they sit still, making them difficult to find. They generally do not migrate.

Trogons pair monogamously (muh-NAH-guh-mus-lee; each bird having just one mate), and become territorial while breeding. They are solitary during the nonbreeding season. The breeding season occurs during the dry season in the tropics when food is more common. Spring and summer breeding is typical among species in temperate (mild) and arid (dry) areas. Males will call out a "wac-wac" sound in order to attract a mate after finding a nest site. Nest sites are usually made in cavities (hollow areas) of live trees or by roughing out holes in decaying tree trunks, but also in epiphyte (EPP-uh-fyte) root masses (plants that grow on others) and termite nests. Females answer with a call and with a show of a lowered tail. Males dig out a nest mostly with the bill, and then sing out for a female to join him. The agreeable female then helps with further construction. Nest cavities are either rising tunnels that lead to chambers, or shallow depressions that leave the occupying bird exposed. Nests are usually reused.

Two to four white or pastel-colored round eggs are laid in the unlined nest cavity. Usually only one brood (young birds born and raised together) occurs each year. The incubation period (time it takes to sit and hatch eggs) is sixteen to twenty-one days, being shared by both sexes but with the female usually sitting during the night. Chicks are hatched helpless, naked, and blind. They are raised by both parents, who feed them regurgitated (food brought up from the stomach) fruit and whole insects. They quickly grow down, and learn how to fly at fifteen to thirty-one days. Chicks breed for the first time at one or two years of age.

TROGONS AND PEOPLE

Hunters and collectors have targeted trogons for their brilliant tail feathers. Trogans, especially the quetzal (kett-SAHL), have often been given special status among ancient peoples. Today, many trogon species are very popular with tourists and nature lovers.

CONSERVATION STATUS

Trogons are relatively common but are still adversely affected by habitat destruction from humans. Ten trogons are identified as Near Threatened, in danger of becoming threatened with extinction, on the World Conservation Union (IUCN) Red List in 2002.

ORANGE-BREASTED TROGON (Harpactes oreskios): SPECIES ACCOUNTS

Physical characteristics: Orange-breasted trogons generally have an olive-yellow head with feathers that are bristled and upright, chestnut upperparts, orange breast that changes to bright yellow on upper and lower portions, white bars on wing sections, and a blue bill. Males have a dull olive-yellowish head with a blue ring; rufous (reddish brown) upperparts and upper tail with paler rump (lower part of back); broad white bars on wing sections; and yellow (gray-based) upper breast with some white along the mid-line. Females have additional gray-brown on head and upperparts; pale buffy-brown rump, gray breast; and yellow lower underparts. Juveniles are similar to females, with young males having warmer brown upperparts. They are 9.8 to 10.2 inches (25 to 26 centimeters) long and weigh about 2 ounces (57 grams).

Geographic range: Orange-breasted trogons are found in southern China, the Malaysian Peninsula, Java, Sumatra, and northern Borneo.

Habitat: Orange-breasted trogons are found in humid, lower-to-middle elevation evergreen forests, lowlands and swampy forests, open dry forests, bamboo forests, thin tree jungles, and sometimes among clumps of trees near forests.

Diet: Orange-breasted trogons feed on fruits and insects including ants, beetles, caterpillars, cicadas (suh-KAY-duhz), crickets, grasshoppers, lizards, spiders, and various vegetable materials. They feed on the ground more often than other trogons, but appear to also feed high off the ground within forests. They sometimes feed in flocks containing several species.

Behavior and reproduction: Orange-breasted trogons perch on shorter trees in the middle and upper canopy (uppermost layer of vegetation) of the forest. They perch by themselves or in pairs, usually not moving. They breed January to June, but usually in February and March. These birds build nests in hollow stumps that are low to the ground, usually less than 3 feet (1 meter) from the ground. Females can lay one to four eggs, but two or three eggs are most common. Little information is available on rearing techniques with regards to incubation and nestling periods (time when young birds are still unable to leave the nest).

Orange-breasted trogons and people: There is no known significance between orange-breasted trogons and people.

Conservation status: Orange-breasted trogons are not globally threatened. ∎

RESPLENDENT QUETZAL (Pharomachrus mocinno): SPECIES ACCOUNTS

Physical characteristics: Resplendent quetzals generally have brilliant glittering gold-green upperparts, including the head and upper chest, which change to bluish colors depending on the direction they are seen in the sunlight. Their underparts are crimson in color from the middle to lower sections of the breast. Flight feathers are blackish, with parts beneath the tail being white. Males have a yellow bill, which is partly hidden by green feathers that circle around the eyes. Females have a blackish to yellow bill; bronze-green head; green upperparts, throat, and upper breast; gray from the mid-breast to the mid-belly; blackish upper portions of the tail; and grayish black and white under parts of the tail. Male young are similar to females, except with a yellow bill, more bronze on the upperparts, and additional white under the tail. Resplendent quetzal adults are 14.2 to 15.7 inches (36 to 40 centimeters) long, with tail streamers that are a length of up to 25.6 inches (65 centimeters). They weigh between 6.3 and 7.4 ounces (180 and 210 grams).

Geographic range: Resplendent quetzals are found in areas of Central America, from southern Mexico to western Panama.

Habitat: Resplendent quetzals occur in forests and along forest edges, mostly in the canopy and sub-canopy (below the treetops), but can be found in lower areas. Specifically, they are found in mountainous evergreen forests, densely vegetated ravines and cliffs, park-like clearing and pastures, and open areas with scattered trees next to forests.

Diet: Resplendent quetzals eat fruit, insects, small reptiles (such as lizards), and amphibians (such as frogs).

Behavior and reproduction: Resplendent quetzals are territorial by nature. They nest in a deep, unlined cavity with one entrance. The nest is usually 14 to 90 feet (4.3 to 27 meters) off the ground in a rotting trunk or stump in the forest or in a nearby clearing. During the breeding season, which lasts from March to June, male resplendent quetzals show off to females with flying displays. Females lay one to two eggs, incubate them for seventeen to nineteen days, and then fledge them (raise them until they can fly) for twenty-three to thirty-one days.

Resplendent quetzals and people: The ancient Maya and Aztec cultures of Central America have long honored resplendent quetzals. Their plumes were used for decoration well into the twentieth century. Their colorful plumage is very popular with birdwatchers.

Conservation status: Resplendent quetzals are Near Threatened mostly due to poachers and habitat disturbances. Threats include habitat clearance, poaching, lack of law enforcement, and local exploitation of forest resources. ∎

FOR MORE INFORMATION

Books:

del Hoyo, Josep, A. Elliott, J. Sargatal, et al., eds. Handbook of the Birds of the World. Barcelona: Lynx Edicions, 1992.

Dickinson, Edward C., ed. The Howard and Moore Complete Checklist of the Birds of the World, 3rd ed. Princeton, NJ and Oxford, U.K.: Princeton University Press, 2003.

Elphick, Chris, John B. Dunning, Jr., and David Allen Sibley, eds. The Sibley Guide to Bird Life and Behavior. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2001.

Forshaw, Joseph, ed. Encyclopedia of Birds, 2nd ed. San Diego, CA: Academic Press, 1998.

Harrison, Colin James Oliver. Birds of the World. London and New York: Dorling Kindersley, 1993.

Perrins, Christopher M., and Alex L. A. Middleton, eds. The Encyclopedia of Birds. New York: Facts on File, 1985.

Stattersfield, Allison J., and David R. Capper, eds. Threatened Birds of the World: The Official Source for Birds on the IUCN Red List. Cambridge, U.K.: BirdLife International, 2000.