Bird Guide

Amazonian Black-throated Trogon vs Green-backed Trogon

Amazonian Black-throated Trogon (Trogon rufus)

Amazonian Black-throated Trogon

Trogon rufus

Small54 gForest

Like most trogons, the Amazonian black-throated has distinctive male and female plumages with soft colorful feathers. This relatively small species is 24 to 26 cm (9.4 to 10 in) long and weighs 45 to 60 g (1.6 to 2.1 oz). Adult males of the nominate subspecies T. r. rufus have a black forehead and face with a pale blue ring of bare skin around their eye. They are metallic green to blue on their crown, back, lesser wing coverts, rump, and uppertail coverts. Their flight feathers, primary coverts, and secondary coverts are various patterns of black and white. Voice: Male trogons' song is "far-carrying and hollow...many more will be heard than seen". (emphasis in original) That of the Amazonian black-throated trogon is "a slow, regularly spaced series of 2–6 (typically 3–4) nasal, over-slurred coo notes". The pace and number of notes varies in a minor way among the subspecies. The species' call is a "churr".

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Sonogram of the Amazonian Black-throated Trogon
Recorded by Niels Krabbe · Song · Napo: Napo Galeras, Ecuador · CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: David Peden · CC0
Green-backed Trogon (Trogon viridis)

Green-backed Trogon

Trogon viridis

Medium90 gForest

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.

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Sonogram of the Green-backed Trogon
Recorded by Rosa Elena Albornoz @rosaelena_naturaleza · Song · Los Caracas, La Guaira, Venezuela · CC0
Photo: Daniel S. Katz · CC BY 4.0

Where you might meet both

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Photos and recordings are credited to their authors under the licence shown. Full profiles: Amazonian Black-throated Trogon and Green-backed Trogon.