Elegant Trogon Identification

The Four Keys to ID

• Size & Shape

  Elegant Trogons are medium-sized stocky, potbellied birds. They are larger than a robin, with a large, round head, a thick neck, large eyes, and a short, stout bill. Trogons perch upright with their long square-tipped tails pointing straight down.

  Relative Size

  Larger and thicker-bodied than American Robin; about the size of a Belted Kingfisher, with a much longer tail.

  between robin and crow

  Measurements

  • Both Sexes
• Color Pattern

  Male Elegant Trogons are brilliant birds with coppery green upperparts and rose-red underparts. They have a white band across the breast and a black-and-white barred underside to the tail. The face and throat are black. Females and immatures are patterned similarly to males, but have grayish-brown upperparts with a white teardrop around the eye.

• Behavior

  Elegant Trogons eat mostly insects. They catch them by watching, motionless, from a perch and then bursting into fluttering flight. They also eat figs and other fruits. Trogons sit very upright on perches, and they make a hoarse, repetitive croaking.

• Habitat

  In Arizona, Elegant Trogons live mainly in riverside upland oak and sycamore canyons. Look for them also in pine-oak woodlands, edge vegetation, and juniper forests. They favor areas where Arizona Woodpecker, Dusky-capped Flycatcher, and Sulphur-bellied Flycatcher also occur.