If you follow the melodic “kua kua kua kua” notes drifting through the humid south American jungle you may be lucky enough to spy his glistening emerald green back.
Meet the Green-backed trogon
The green-backed trogon (Trogon viridis) is the largest of the yellow-bellied trogons, measuring 28.5 cm (11.2 in) in length. As is the case with most Trogons, they are strongly sexually dimorphic, the male having a dark blue iridescent head and breast, while the back is iridescent green. Underparts are orange to yellow, the wings black, vermiculated with white. He also has large tail tips finished off in white and an eye ring that is pale blue.
Photo Courtesy of Hector Bottai / CC BY-SA 3.0
Female birds resemble the male, though they have a gray back, head, and breast, along with highly distinctive barring to the outer webs of each tail feather.
The song of the green-backed trogon consists of about 20 cow notes that start slow, but accelerate towards the end.
“File:Trogon viridis -Smithsonian National Zoological Park, Washington DC, USA-8a.jpg” by Michael Bentley is licensed under CC BY 2.0.
These birds are found in the tropical humid forests in South America, where its range includes the Amazon, the Guiana Shield, Trinidad, and the Atlantic Forest in eastern Brazil.
They like to live in and around humid tropical forests, usually being the commonest trogon in their range.
“Green-backed Trogon (Trogon viridis) Trinidad jan 2014” by Feroze Omardeen is licensed under CC BY 2.0.
You can watch the Green-backed Trogon right here in the video below:
