Elegant Trogon
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[Photo] Elegant Trogon from Mexican Boundary Survey. Elegant Trogon , Trogon elegans, male, hand-colored lithograph. Source: Report on the United States and Mexican boundary survey, made under the direction of the secretary of the Interior by William H. Emory. (Volume on Birds, edited by Spencer Fullerton Baird.) Date 1857-1859. Author United States Department of the Interior. License: public domain

The Elegant Trogon, Trogon elegans, is a near passerine bird in the trogon family. It breeds from southeasternmost Arizona in the United States to northwestern Costa Rica. It occasionally is found as a vagrant in southeasternmost and western Texas.

It is a resident of the lower levels of semi-arid open woodlands and forests. It nests 2-6 m high in an unlined shallow cavity, usuually selecting an old woodpecker hole, with a typical clutch of 2-3 eggs.

Trogons have distinctive male and female plumages, with soft, often colourful, feathers. This species is 28-30 cm long and weighs 65-67 g. Both sexes have a white undertail with fine hoizontal black barring. The undertail also has large white tips spaced evenly ending in a black terminal band. Both have a yellow bill, orange-red undertail coverts and lower belly, and a white horizontal breast stripe.

The male Elegant Trogon has a metallic deep green head, upper breast and back, black face and throat, and red-orange lower breast and belly. He shows grey upperwing coverts. The female has a metallic bronze head, upper breast, back, upper tail and upperwing coverts. She shows a dull white upper belly, and a small white vertical stripe behind the eye.

The usual call is a croaking "co-ah co-ah co-ah". The trogon will also include some chattering notes.

Elegant Trogons feed on insects and fruit, often taken in flight. Their broad bills and weak legs reflect their diet and arboreal habits. Although their flight is fast, they are reluctant to fly any distance. They typically perch upright and motionless.

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