Green-backed Trogon
Trogon viridis
Often first detected by its song: a melodic series of “kua kua kua kua” notes, similar to Surucua Trogon, but faster. Perches quietly in an upright position for long periods. Males have a green back, a bluish head and breast, a yellow belly. The underside of the tail is white with dark centers. Females have a gray-brown head and breast. Their tail is similar to the male’s but also has gray horizontal bars. Found in the upper to middle levels of humid forests, at forest edges, and in lighter woodlands and second growth.
Identification
This relatively large trogon is 28 to 30 centimetres (11 to 12 in) long. As most trogons, it is strongly sexually dimorphic. In the male the head and upper breast are dark blue (appears blackish in poor light), and the back is green. The lower underparts are orange yellow. The wings are black, vermiculated with white. The undertail is black and white: Each feather has a broad black base and a broad white tip and outer edge. The complete eye-ring is pale bluish. The female green-backed trogon resembles the male, but has a grey back, head and breast, and distinct black-and-white barring mainly to the outer webs of each tail feather.<p>For comparison, the similar but smaller violaceous trogon has a yellow (male) or incomplete white eye-ring (female), and the male also has barring to the undertail.<p>There is no overlap in the distribution of the green-backed and white-tailed trogons, but the two can be separated by the undertail pattern: Unlike the green-backed trogon, the male white-tailed trogon only has a very narrow black base to each feather (the undertail appears almost entirely white), and the female mainly has black-and-white barring to the inner webs of each feather (can be difficult to see). The male white-tailed trogon also has a bluer rump than the green-backed trogon.<p>The song of the green-backed trogon consists of about 20 cow notes that start slow, but accelerate towards the end. The song is slower than the white-tailed trogon, and higher pitched than the black-tailed trogon.
Taxonomy
The green-backed trogon was formally described by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1766 in the twelfth edition of his Systema Naturae. He placed it with the other togons in the genus Trogon and coined the binomial name Trogon viridis. Linnaeus based his description on "Le couroucou verd de Cayenne" that had been described and illustrated in 1760 by French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson. The specific epithet viridis is the Latin word for "green". The species is monotypic: no subspecies are recognised.<p>On the same page of his Systema Naturae Linnaeus introduced the binomial name Trogon strigilatus for the female of this species. He based his description on Brisson's "Couroucou cendré de Cayenne". Although in 1945 James L. Peters used the epithet strigilatus rather that viridis in his Check-List of Birds of the World, the epithet viridis is now the accepted name.<p>The green-backed trogon and the white-tailed trogon (T. chionurus) were formerly treated as conspecific under the common name "white-tailed trogon". A molecular phylogenetic study published in 2008 found that the chionurus samples from west Ecuador and Panama were more closely related to Baird's trogon (T. bairdii) than they were to the viridis samples from the east of the Andes. Based on this result and the plumage differences, the species was split and chionurus was promoted to species status. The nominate subspecies viridis was given the new common name "green-backed trogon" while chionurus retained the name "white-tailed trogon".
- Scientific name
- Trogon viridis
- Authority
- Linnaeus, 1766
- Order
- Trogoniformes
- Family
- Trogonidae
- Genus
- Trogon
Range and habitat
It is found in tropical humid forests in South America, where its range includes the Amazon, the Guiana Shield, Trinidad, and the Atlantic Forest in eastern Brazil. It is a resident of humid tropical forests, and is typically the commonest trogon in its range.
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
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. Green-backed trogons feed mainly on small fruit, supplemented by arthropods and lizards – slightly more so in the dry season when fruit are scarce, but even then they seem 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.<p>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 to fledging.
Conservation
- Population trend
- stable
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
African Harrier-Hawk
Polyboroides typus
A large, grayish, naked-faced hawk with broad wings. The small, bare, yellow (sometimes flushed red) face, white-banded black tail, and underwing pattern distinguish it. The immature is blotchy brown with yellow-green facial skin and barred flight feathers. Harrier-hawks are specialists, foraging on eggs and nestlings, and they have double-jointed knees which allow them to access nest holes and other confined spaces. They are often seen clumsily clambering around on cliffs and trees when foraging. Although similar to chanting-goshawks, African Harrier-Hawk’s long but small angular head, broad wings, and tail pattern are diagnostic.
White-browed Bulbul
Pycnonotus luteolus
A plain brownish bulbul that is endemic to the bottom half of peninsular India and Sri Lanka. Ubiquitous inhabitant of scrubby habitat across its range and sometimes overlaps with Yellow-throated Bulbul in rocky scrub. Although both species have a yellow vent and can sound similar, White-browed can be distinguished by its brown face and white eyebrow. Usually occurs in pairs and tends to skulk in undergrowth. Rather noisy but uncommonly seen, listen for regular, short bursts of distinctive raucous babbling.
African Goshawk
Aerospiza tachiro
A widespread medium-sized African hawk with yellow eyes and legs. Highly variable, both by age, sex, and geographically. Gray, gray-brown, or brown on the back and head, with a white throat. The underparts vary from solidly red to barred red to barred brown. Often shows large white spots on top of the black tail. In a large swath of the range in East and Central Africa, there is an all-dark morph. Breeds in rainforest, monsoon forest, riverine forest, thickets, woodland, and exotic plantations, but it has been known to wander widely into more open country. During the breeding season it will soar high in the sky uttering a short sharp “chwik” call in aerial display; the call is given every 2–3 seconds for over a minute at a time. Similarly-plumaged Little Sparrowhawk is much smaller. Visually very similar to Chestnut-flanked Sparrowhawk in areas where they overlap, but African Goshawk is much larger and far more common. Can also be confused with Long-tailed Hawk, but African Goshawk has a shorter tail, darker upperparts, and a clean white throat.
Start Your Bird Watching Journey
Identify a bird outdoors and keep the field guide close for your next observation.