Green-backed Trogon - BirdForum Opus

Trogon viridis

Alternative name: Amazonian White-tailed Trogon

Male left, female right.
Photo © by Steve G
Trinidad, 16 May 2006

Identification

25–28 cm; a large trogon

• Bluish-black head and breast
• Yellow under parts
• Pale blue orbital ring
• Blue bill

Similar Species

Adult male, showing back colour
Photo © by nigel lallsingh
Point gorge Chaguaramas, Trinidad, 10 July 2009

They can easily can be confused with the Amazonian Trogon and the Surucua Trogon. The complete bluish-white eye-ring and lack of barring to the undertail are often useful features for this species.

Distribution

South America: east of the Andes from Colombia south to Peru and and Bolivia, and east to the Guianas, Trinidad, and eastern Brazil (to Maranhão and Mato Grosso; also Alagoas, and from Bahia south to São Paulo.

Taxonomy

This is a monotypic species^[1].

Has been considered conspecific with White-tailed Trogon in the past.

Habitat

Humid forest and woodland incl. Amazon and Atlantic forest.

Behaviour

Male from the range of the no longer recognized subspecies melanopterus
Photo © by jocateme
Itanhaém, São Paulo state, Brazil, 27 July 2008

Although a colourful bird, it can easily be overlooked because of its habit of sitting quietly for long periods.

Diet

Frugivorous, which includes fruit and berries. They will also eat beetles and grasshoppers etc.

References

1. Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, S. M. Billerman, T. A. Fredericks, J. A. Gerbracht, D. Lepage, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2021. The eBird/Clements checklist of Birds of the World: v2021. Downloaded from https://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
2. Collar, N. & Kirwan, G.M. (2019). Green-backed Trogon (Trogon viridis). In: del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A., Sargatal, J., Christie, D.A. & de Juana, E. (eds.). Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona. (retrieved from https://www.hbw.com/node/55697 on 18 July 2019).
3. SACC proposal to split White-tailed Trogon
4. Separating the White-tailed from the Surucua Trogon (ssp. aurantius)
5. Green-backed Trogon (Trogon viridis), In Neotropical Birds Online (T. S. Schulenberg, Editor). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. retrieved from Neotropical Birds Online: https://neotropical.birds.cornell.edu/Species-Account/nb/species/gnbtro1

• List of references

Recommended Citation

• BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Green-backed Trogon. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 27 April 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Green-backed_Trogon

External Links

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