Collared Trogon Female (Trogon collaris)

Nancy took this image while on a trip led by Brian Rapoza for the Tropical Audubon Society to Trinidad and Tobago.

This is a relatively small (about 10" long), red-bellied trogon. Males and females have distinctively different plumage. Males have green backs, heads, and breasts (which are brown on females), with a white line separating the breast from the red below (females may be a bit paler). Its tail is white with narrow, closely-spaced black bars (female tails are more uniform, without most of the bars). Male wings are black with fine vermiculated (wavy) lines (females don't have those lines). The female pictured here has been soaked by the rain.

Collared Trogons can be found in humid tropical lowland forests, from southern Mexico, through areas of Central America, and in regions of South America as far south as central Bolivia and Brazil. There are numerous subspecies, but there is some confusion among my sources as to whether these birds on Trinidad and Tobago belong to the subspecies of northern Venezuela (T.c.exoptalus), or the original (nominate) subspecies (T.c. collaris), which ranges from northern Columbia east through the Guianas and south to northern Bolivia and Brazil.

These birds eat insects and fruit. They make their nests in termite mounds or in trees. They typically lay two white eggs.

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