The White-tailed Trogon

Aug 29, 2010 Features / Columnists, Interesting Creatures in Guyana

The White-tailed Trogon

Trogons are a relatively large bird species that can grow to lengths of about 29 centimeters (11 inches) and they can weigh about 82 grams (3 oz).
Like most trogons, the White-tailed Trogon which inhabits sections of the local forest has distinctive male and female plumages, with soft colourful feathers.
The head and upper breast of the male are dark blue, but can appear blackish in poor light, and the back is green, becoming bluer on the rump.
The lower underparts are orange yellow. The wings are black, vermiculated with white. In the Amazonian White-tailed Trogon, the undertail has a black centre, broadly edged with white, but in the Western White-tailed Trogon the undertail is almost entirely white. The complete eye-ring is pale bluish.
The female White-tailed Trogon resembles the male, but has a grey back, head and breast, and barring to the tail. This barring is restricted to the inner webs of the tail feathers and can often be difficult to see in the Western White-tailed Trogon. However it is far more conspicuous in the Amazonian White-tailed Trogon, where it primarily is on the outer webs.
This species resembles the Violaceous Trogon (T. violaceus), but the latter is smaller and has a complete yellow (male) or incomplete white (female) eye-ring. The male Violaceous Trogon also has a barred undertail unlike the male White-tailed Trogon.
The song of the White-tailed Trogon consists of about 15-20 cow notes that are delivered slower in the Amazonian White-tailed Trogon than in the Western White-tailed Trogon. Among others, calls include caaop, caaop, caaop, ca, ca, ca notes.
They typically perch upright and motionless. Although their flight is fast, they are reluctant to fly any distance.
Their broad bills and weak legs reflect their diet and arboreal habits. White-tailed Trogons feed mainly on small fruit, supplemented by arthropods, slightly more so in the dry season when fruit are scarce, but even then at least the Amazonian population seems to be among the most frugivorous trogons in their range. They are consequently more rarely seen to attend mixed-species feeding flocks than other trogons.
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. The nesting season is apparently mainly during the summer months (June-August). The clutch is typically two or three white eggs. These are incubated for 16-17 days, with a further two weeks for fledging. (Source: Wikipedia – The Free Online Encyclopedia)