Elegant Trogon

About the Elegant Trogon

The Elegant Trogon is one of the most coveted birds in North America, a foot-long jewel with an emerald back, carmine belly, yellow bill, and a long square tail delicately barred underneath. Trogons sit bolt upright and nearly motionless in the canopy, then flutter out to pluck an insect or berry, often revealing themselves only by a croaking ko-ah call.

The species is the glory of Mexico's mountain forests, barely spilling into the United States in the sycamore canyons of southeastern Arizona, where birders travel from around the world for a glimpse. Older field guides called it the Coppery-tailed Trogon.

These photographs were taken at Parque Ecologico Chipinque above Monterrey, Mexico, where a trogon glowed like a jewel in the morning forest.