Baird´s Trogon

Baird´s trogon (Trogon bairdii) is a bird species belonging to the family Trogonidae, which includes quetzals and trogons. It is native to Costa Rica and Panama. The species is named in honor of Spencer Fullerton Baird, a renowned naturalist of the 19th century who served as the first curator of the Smithsonian Institution.

Taxonomy and systematics: Baird´s trogon is sometimes treated as conspecific with one or both of green-backed trogon (T. viridis) and white-tailed trogon (T. chionurus). They do form a sister group with black-headed trogon (T. melanocephalus) and citreoline trogon (T. citreolus). Baird´s trogon is monotypic.

 Baird´s trogon is 25 to long and weighs about 95 g. The male´s head and most of the breast are bluish black and the rest of the underparts a rich bright red. It has a stout light blue bill and ring around the eye. The upperparts are metallic blue-green and the wings mostly blackish with some white on the primary feathers. The upper side of the tail feathers are greenish- to violet-blue with black tips. Their underside is white with black tips. The female replaces the blue and green with dark slate above and a paler gray in the throat and breast. The underparts have less red and the underside of the tail is barred with black and white.

Distribution and habitat: Baird´s trogon is found on the Pacific slope of Costa Rica from approximately the Tárcoles River south just into western Panama´s Chiriquí Province. It primarily inhabits the interior canopy of humid rainforest but also occurs at its edges, in tall secondary forest, and in shady semi-open woodland. In elevation it ranges from sea level to 1200 m.

Feeding: Baird´s trogon forages by sallying to take fruits and insects from foliage and will also take prey from the ground. Small vertebrates are a minor part of its diet.

Breeding: Baird´s trogon breeds between April and August. They nest in a cavity in the decaying trunk of a dead tree. The clutch size is two to three eggs; incubation takes 16 to 17 days, and fledging takes about 25 days from hatching.

Vocalization: The song of Baird´s trogon is a "series of barking notes, first level, then accelerating and falling abruptly, sometimes terminating with several widely spaced notes on [a] lower pitch". It also makes a "sharp cackle" when bothered.

Status: The IUCN originally assessed Baird´s trogon in 1988 as Threatened, but since 2004 has rated it Near Threatened. It has a small range and is losing habitat to deforestation. It is mostly restricted to protected areas in Costa Rica and is rare in Panama, with few records in the 2000s.