Black-tailed Trogon Trogon melanurus Scientific name definitions

Black-tailed Trogon is a canopy and mid-level forest species in lowland South America.  The male has a yellow bill and reddish eyering, a green head, chest, and upperparts with a white band separating the chest from the red underparts, and a blackish tail.  Females are gray above and below save for the red belly.  The species has three disjunct parts to its distribution, consisting of the Amazon Basin, a disjunct range west of the Andes in Peru and Ecuador, and a northern range in Panama, Colombia, and Venezuela.  They feed on fruit, especially Cecropia, and arthropods.  Calls of the Black-tailed Trogon include a ratting ca-ca-ca-ca-ca-ca series while the song typically consists of a slower series of evenly spaced, downslurred, whistled took notes.

28–30 cm; 52–122 g. Male nominate race with yellow bill , orange-red orbital ring  ; face and throat blackish; crown, nape, upperparts and breast green ; white breastband, red belly to undertail-coverts ; vermiculated wingpanel; uppertail deep blue  , sometimes somewhat greener, undertail slaty . Differs from very similar T. massena in bill colour and white breastband. Female with slaty upper mandible  , dark slaty head , upperparts, wings and tail, paler on throat to mid-belly, with red lower belly to undertail-coverts ; differs from female T. massena in yellow lower mandible . Race <em>macroura</em> has very marginally larger bill (20–26 mm versus 20–25 mm in nominate) (1 Forshaw, J.M. (2009). Trogons: A Natural History of the Trogonidae. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona. Close ), longer wings (151–177 mm versus 152–168 mm) (1 Forshaw, J.M. (2009). Trogons: A Natural History of the Trogonidae. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona. Close ) and tail (130–188 mm versus 131–163 mm) (1 Forshaw, J.M. (2009). Trogons: A Natural History of the Trogonidae. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona. Close ), more coarsely vermiculated wingpanel (1 Forshaw, J.M. (2009). Trogons: A Natural History of the Trogonidae. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona. Close ) and more turquoise on uppertail-coverts; <em>eumorphus</em> is like nominate, but has darker wings, bluer tail and narrower breastband .

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Editor's Note: Additional distribution information for this taxon can be found in the 'Subspecies' article above. In the future we will develop a range-wide distribution article.

Humid lowland and foothill forest , forest edge and second-growth woodland on both slopes in Panama, penetrating mangroves on Caribbean side; in Colombia reaches 2200 m (usually much lower) W of Andes, to 500 m E of Andes, and persists in small patches of forest in generally cleared areas in NW Colombia. In Venezuela occupies rainforest to elevation of 100 m N of R Orinoco, to 1000 m S of it; in French Guiana mainly in primary forest in interior. In Amazonia found in canopy and subcanopy of poorly drained transition forest and swamp-forest, forest edge and gallery forest, including both terra firme and várzea forests; sometimes alongside Pharomachrus pavoninus and T. collaris; also penetrates gallery forests in Cerrado of C Brazil.

Largely resident; however, in Bolivia, birds move from dry forest in wet season to lowland rainforest in dry season (1 Forshaw, J.M. (2009). Trogons: A Natural History of the Trogonidae. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona. Close ).

Berries, palm and other fruits, Cecropia flower tassels, also insects including Orthoptera (locustids), Coleoptera (cerambycids, curculionids), stick-insects  and occasional caterpillars  ; herptile prey also recorded  . Stomach contents of specimens involved arthropods alone (n = 8), arthropods and fruits (n = 19) and fruits alone (n = 11) (3 Remsen, J.V., Hyde, M.A. and Chapman, A. (1993). The diets of Neotropical trogons, motmots, barbets and toucans. Condor. 95(1): 178-192. Close ). Follows mixed-species flocks in canopy, but also regularly feeds in the midstorey; in French Guiana, 95% of foraging observations were of lone birds and just 5% of individuals within flocks.

Calls very like those of T. massena, but notes louder, more resonant, perhaps given faster, “kwo-kwo-kwo...” in series of up to 46 notes, emitted at uniform rate of one per two seconds (1 Forshaw, J.M. (2009). Trogons: A Natural History of the Trogonidae. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona. Close ); eumorphus gives prolonged series of “cow” notes that start softly; also a bubbly purring trill.

Mar in Panama; in NW Colombia, birds in breeding condition in Jan–May, nest excavation in Mar; Jul–Oct in French Guiana, Sept–Oct in E Peru; Jun–Jul elsewhere in Amazonia. All documented nests in Peru in active termitaria of Nasutitermes corniger (all of them already housing colonies of Dolichoderus ants, which perhaps aid nest sanitization) (4 Brightsmith, D.J. (2000). Use of arboreal termitaria by nesting birds in the Peruvian Amazon. Condor. 102(3): 529-538. Close ), chiefly in mature or late successional floodplain-forest, once over water (5 Brightsmith, D.J. (2004). Nest sites of termitarium nesting birds in SE Peru. Orn. Neotropical. 15(3): 319–330. Close ), and mostly in larger Scheelia or Astrocaryum palms; nest-chambers average 17·9 cm in diameter (range 15–20 cm) and 15 cm in height (13·3–16·5 cm) (5 Brightsmith, D.J. (2004). Nest sites of termitarium nesting birds in SE Peru. Orn. Neotropical. 15(3): 319–330. Close ), with entrance tunnel 7·3 cm in diameter (6·8–8 cm), 19·1 cm long (8–33 cm) and with an upward slope of 56 º (47·5–63·5 º) (5 Brightsmith, D.J. (2004). Nest sites of termitarium nesting birds in SE Peru. Orn. Neotropical. 15(3): 319–330. Close ); perhaps occasionally nests in hole in tree, but direct evidence is very weak (1 Forshaw, J.M. (2009). Trogons: A Natural History of the Trogonidae. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona. Close ). No evidence of nest-site reuse (5 Brightsmith, D.J. (2004). Nest sites of termitarium nesting birds in SE Peru. Orn. Neotropical. 15(3): 319–330. Close ). Eggs 2–3, close to white (6 Londoño, G. A. (2014). Parque Nacional del Manu, Cusco, Perú: Anidación de Aves en un Gradiente Altitudinal. Rapid Color Guide 514 versión 1. The Field Museum, Chicago, IL, USA. Close ), but apparently undescribed (1 Forshaw, J.M. (2009). Trogons: A Natural History of the Trogonidae. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona. Close ), though one egg measured 37 mm × 27 mm (7 Brightsmith, D.J. (2005). Competition, predation and nest niche shifts among tropical cavity nesters: ecological evidence. Journal of Avian Biology. 36(1): 74–83. Close ). No other details known.

Not globally threatened. Uncommon and rather local in Canal area, Panama, but more numerous in E lowlands. In Colombia, common in lower Atrato Valley and E of Andes, and fairly common generally in NW; abundant in Las Orquídeas National Park. Widely distributed and not uncommon in interior Surinam. In French Guiana, transects recorded a mean 5·5 birds in 0·25-ha quadrats in undisturbed primary forest, but 3·2 birds in regenerating forest 1–2 years after logging and just 2·6 birds some 8–12 years after logging. Present in Bolivia in Beni Biological Station and in Madidi, Amboró and Noel Kempff Mercado National Parks, as well as Pilón Lajas Biosphere Reserve (1 Forshaw, J.M. (2009). Trogons: A Natural History of the Trogonidae. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona. Close ). In Brazil, common in Amazonia, and present in Tapajós National Park, Pará, as well as Jaú National Park, Amazonas. In SE Peru uncommon at Tambopata, but in floodplain-forest territory c. 5 ha and as many as 13 pairs/km²; common in Manu area.