Orange-breasted Trogon Harpactes oreskios Scientific name definitions

25–31 cm; 49–57 g. Male nominate race with dull olive-yellowish head with blue orbital ring, rufous-chestnut upperparts and uppertail with paler rump, bold broad white bars on wingpanel, yellow (grey-based) upper breast with vague white mid-line, orange lower breast becoming paler on vent; white on black undertail. Female has more grey-brown head and upperparts shading to pale buffy-brown rump, grey breast, yellow lower underparts. Juvenile similar to female, male with warmer brown upperparts. Race stellae suggested to have paler upperparts, more broadly vermiculated wing-coverts and a longer tail than next race, but differences have been doubted; <em>uniformis</em> lacks paler rump , has olive-yellow upper breast , latter greyer in female ; nias has somewhat darker crown and larger bill than uniformis; dulitensis like uniformis but much smaller, and with greener breast.

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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.

Inhabits mid-stratum and lower canopy of primary semi-evergreen and lowland and lower montane evergreen forest and swamp-forest, but also disturbed tracts with much bamboo, thin tree jungle, open dry forest, mixed deciduous forest, bamboo forest, and even clumps of trees near forest tracts; occurs in lowlands up to 1100 m in Thailand; up to 1300 m in Peninsular Malaysia; at 300–1500 m (apparently mainly 800–1000 m) in Borneo and Sumatra; and up to 1200 m in Java. Occurs low down in heavy secondary jungle, often in substage growth, on Nias. Little use of degraded forest in Laos.

Diet includes Orthoptera, cicadas, bugs, beetles (including Tenebrionidae), ants, stick-­insects and their larvae, caterpillars; also spiders, lizards, fruit, and regularly an admixture of vegetable material. Appears to feed more frequently on the ground than other trogons, although others report that feeding station in forest is higher than that of H. kasumba. Recorded following mixed-species flocks.

A phrase of 3–4 even-pitched notes, “tau-tau-tau” , with introduction of 1–3 notes, “to (to to)”. In Borneo a repeated “kek kek”, presumably same as a barking call heard on Nias. Alarm consists of c. 5 rapid scolding notes.

Feb–Apr in Myanmar, Jan–Mar in Thailand; Jan–May in Peninsular Malaysia, where half-grown bird seen in Feb on Langkawi; early months of year (presumably Jan–Mar) in Kelabit uplands in Sarawak; Feb, May, Jun and Oct in Java. Nest in hollow stump, sometimes in dead bamboo, often less than 1 m from ground, commonly under 2 m; 2·1 m on average in Thailand (n = 19) (1 Steward, J.S. and Pierce, A.J. (2011). Breeding biology of Orange-breasted (Harpactes oreskios) and Red-headed (H. erythrocephalus) trogons in Khao Yai National Park, Thailand. J. Field Orn.. 82(2): 175–183. Close ); once 4 m up in hollow in dead branch of a “zimbom” tree. Eggs generally 2–3, but 1–4 recorded. Incubation period, 17–18 days; nestling period, 12 to at least 14 days (1 Steward, J.S. and Pierce, A.J. (2011). Breeding biology of Orange-breasted (Harpactes oreskios) and Red-headed (H. erythrocephalus) trogons in Khao Yai National Park, Thailand. J. Field Orn.. 82(2): 175–183. Close ). Nest success, just 8% in a study in Thailand (1 Steward, J.S. and Pierce, A.J. (2011). Breeding biology of Orange-breasted (Harpactes oreskios) and Red-headed (H. erythrocephalus) trogons in Khao Yai National Park, Thailand. J. Field Orn.. 82(2): 175–183. Close ).

Not globally threatened (Least Concern). Rare in Yunnan; in Myanmar, common in Tenasserim but scarcer elsewhere; common in Thailand, including in Doi Suthep-Pui National Park, and the commonest trogon in the peninsula; moderately common in some areas in Laos, and present in several major existing or proposed “national biodiversity conservation areas”; present in Nam Bai Cat Tien National Park in Vietnam; fairly common in N & C Peninsular Malaysia. In Borneo, not common on Kinabalu but the common trogon of the Kelabit uplands above 900 m; common at submontane site in Barito Ulu area of Kalimantan in 1989. Only a single record during period c.1940–1985 in Sumatra, but in more recent times reported to be present in Bukit Barisan Selatan and Gunung Leuser National Parks; uncommon in Java.