Slaty-tailed Trogon - BirdForum Opus

Male
Photo by blubird
Costa Rica, January 2007

Trogon massena

Includes Chapman's Trogon

Identification

30 cm

• Dark grey tail
• Grey wing coverts with fine black and white vermiculations
  

Male

• Green back, head and breast
• Red belly
• Orange bill
  

Female

• Dark grey back, head and breast
• Red belly
• Bill black and orange

Female
Photo by Gary Clark
La Selva Biological Research Station, Costa Rica.

When seen directly from below, the tail can look silvery, where it really is dark slaty grey.

Similar Species

The orange-red bill is important in separating this species from Black-tailed Trogon.

Distribution

Central and South America
Central America: Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama
South America: Colombia and Ecuador

Taxonomy

Three subspecies:

• T. m. massena:

• Humid lowland forests of south-eastern Mexico to Nicaragua

• T. m. hoffmanni:

• Costa Rica and Panama to extreme north-western Colombia

• T. m. australis Chapman's Trogon:

• Coastal Pacific Colombia to north-western Ecuador

Habitat

Low to mid-level mature wet forest, secondary forest and forest edges.

Behaviour

Diet

The diet includes insects and fruit.

Breeding

The nest is excavated by both adults between 3-15 m in the trunk of a decayed tree or a termite mound. The clutch of 3 white or bluish-white eggs is laid in a chamber accessed by a tunnel.

References

1. Clements, JF. 2009. The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to December 2009. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0801445019.
2. Avibase
3. Wikipedia
4. BF Member observations

• List of references

Recommended Citation

• BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Slaty-tailed Trogon. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 24 April 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Slaty-tailed_Trogon

External Links

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