White-tailed Trogon

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White-tailed Trogon
Adult male
Adult male
Conservation status
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Trogoniformes
Family: Trogonidae
Genus: Trogon
Species: T. viridis
Binomial name
Trogon viridis
Linnaeus, 1766

The White-tailed Trogon, Trogon viridis, is a near passerine bird in the trogon family. It occurs from Panama south to southern Brazil, and on Trinidad.

This relatively large species is about 29 cm long and weighs 82 g. Trogons have distinctive male and female plumage, with soft, often colourful, feathers. The head and upper breast of the male are blue and the back is green, becoming bluer on the rump. The lower underparts are golden yellow. The undertail has a black centre, broadly edged with white, and the wings are black, vermiculated with white.

The female White-tailed Trogon has a brown-grey back, head and breast.

This species superficially resembles the Violaceous Trogon, but the latter is smaller and has a barred tail.

White-tailed Trogon has a slow cow cow, cow call and a faster caaop, caaop, caaop, ca, ca, ca . The fast call resembles that of Amazonian Violaceous Trogon, and is not given in the wetter forests where both forms occur.

White-tailed Trogons feed on insects and small fruit, and their broad bills and weak legs reflect their diet and arboreal habits. Although their flight is fast, they are reluctant to fly any distance. They typically perch upright and motionless.

It is a resident of moist tropical forests, where it nests in a termite nest or a hole in a rotten tree. The nest is usually if not always built by the female which excavates an upward-sloping tunnel ending in a breeding chamber[1]. The nesting season is apparently mainly during the summer months (June-August)[1]. The clutch is typically two or three white eggs. These are incubated for 16-17 days, with a further two weeks to fledging.

[edit] Gallery

[edit] Footnotes

  1. ^ a b Cisneros-Heredia (2006)

[edit] References

  • BirdLife International (2004). Trogon viridis. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 11 May 2006. Database entry includes justification for why this species is of least concern
  • Cisneros-Heredia, Diego F. (2006): Notes on breeding, behaviour and distribution of some birds in Ecuador. Bull. B.O.C. 126(2): 153-164.
  • ffrench, Richard; O'Neill, John Patton & Eckelberry, Don R. (1991): A guide to the birds of Trinidad and Tobago (2nd edition). Comstock Publishing, Ithaca, N.Y.. ISBN 0-8014-9792-2
  • Hilty, Steven L. (2003): Birds of Venezuela. Christopher Helm, London. ISBN 0-7136-6418-5